The Star: July 23, 2020

The Star Thursday July 23 2020
22
OPINION
TODAY THE city council will
be meeting to discuss and adopt
the 2020-21 Annual Plan, after
receiving over 1000 written
submissions and hearing from
more than 116 submitters in
person.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the
Annual Plan process this year,
having chaired all of the meetings,
briefings and then the hearings in
my role as chair of the finance and
performance committee.
The development of the plan
has, however, been a challenging
process for the city council, as
we originally released the draft
Annual Plan for consultation in
February. Then the impact of the
Covid-19 pandemic caused some
major changes to our finances and
we needed to revise the draft Annual
Plan to reflect this, resulting
in the release of an updated draft
Annual Plan and a new consultation
document on June 12.
This new time line only allowed
a short time for consultation
with the community, but I
have been really impressed by
the quantity and quality of the
feedback we received in written
submissions and from people
speaking to us at the hearings.
After taking this valuable
feedback into account, we made
further changes to the draft Annual
Plan.
The majority of submitters opposed
the city council reintroducing
the weedkiller, Glyphosate, so
we now propose not to increase
its use and to retain the current
policy.
The excess water use charging
proposal has been included in the
plan, with 65 per cent of submitters
in favour of this. We also got
a very clear message that residents
are not happy with the condition
of some of our roads, so we have
made a further $4.5 million available
in the budget specifically for
road sealing work over the next
year.
The revised draft Annual Plan
includes provision for an average
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Thanks for the feedback
Acting Mayor
Andrew Turner
BUMPY
RIDE: The
city council
received a lot
of feedback
on the
condition of
some of our
roads.
residential rate rise of 1.77 per
cent and an overall average rate
increase of 3.5 per cent.
So thank you, Christchurch
and Banks Peninsula, for taking
the time to have your say on this
year’s Annual Plan. We listened
to you, and we have made changes
as a result of what we heard.
•You can view the full draft
Annual Plan report on
bit.ly/3fNSzHR, or watch the
live stream of the meeting
today from 9.30am on
councillive.ccc.govt.nz/livestream.
The coming week in our history
July 23, 1952 – Yvette Williams
leaps to Olympic gold.
Williams won the long jump at
Helsinki to become New Zealand’s
first female Olympic medallist.
Thanks to amateur radio
operators who were monitoring
shortwave broadcasts, New Zealanders
who stayed up through
the night were able to follow her
progress.
July 24, 2000 – New Zealand
soldier Private Leonard Manning
was the first New Zealander
killed in combat since the Vietnam
War. Manning’s patrol was
part of New Zealand’s contribution
to the United Nations peacekeeping
force in the fledgling
nation of East Timor.
July 25, 1981 – Anti-Springbok
tour demonstrators invaded
Hamilton’s Rugby Park, forcing
the abandonment of the
Springboks-Waikato match.
This announcement was greeted
with chants of “we want rugby.’’
Spectators attacked protesters as
the police ushered them from
the ground.
July 26, 1865 – Parliament
moves from Auckland to more
centrally-located Wellington
on the recommendation of a
specially appointed Australian
commission. The former
Wellington Provincial Council
chamber became the new home
for Parliament.
July 27, 1963 – Pioneer aviator
George Bolt dies. Bolt was an
outstanding figure in the development
of commercial aviation.
Among his many achievements
were taking New Zealand’s first
aerial photographs in 1912 and
delivering its first official airmail
in 1919. He served with the
RNZAF during World War 2.
July 28, 1893 – The women’s
suffrage petition was presented
to Parliament. The monster
petition contained the signatures
of more than 25,000 women. A
dozen other, smaller petitions
were also submitted around the
same time. Together they contained
the signatures of nearly
32,000 women − almost a quarter
of the adult European female
population of New Zealand.
July 29, 1981 – Up to 2000 anti-Springbok
tour protesters were
confronted by police who used
batons to stop them marching
up Molesworth St, Wellington,
to the home of South Africa’s
consul to New Zealand. Former
Prime Minister Norman Kirk’s
prediction eight years earlier that
a Springbok tour would result in
the “greatest eruption of violence
this country has ever known,’’
now seemed prophetic.
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