North Canterbury News: May 27, 2021

NEWS
Praise for district's
social recovery
By DAVID HILL
Waimakariri’s socialrecovery is faring
better than expected.
Cr Philip Redmond, speaking after last
week’s meeting of theWaimakaririDistrict
Council community and recreation
committee meeting, whichhechairs, said
the community was well supported.
The committeewas presentedwith a
Covid­19 social recovery update report—
one of three reports presentedtothe
meeting by community team manager
TessaSturley.
‘‘My conclusion is thatwedohaveasafe,
well­connected community in
Waimakariri,’’ Cr Redmond said.
‘‘It’s quite amazingwhen you see
everything thatgoes on. We just touched
the surface as there are so manythings
happening,soit’s not all doomand gloom.
‘‘Thecommunity team is doingagreat
job andall the thingsthey do help to make
the community thatmuch better.’’
The socialrecoveryupdate report
followed the presentationofaCovid­19
recoveryupdatebyrecovery manager
SimonHart to the full council meeting
earlier this month.
In his update, Mr Hart said retail
spending in the Waimakariri District
increasedby1.3 percent in 2020, despite
the lockdown, and unemploymentwas just
3.1%.
But he acknowledged the statistics did
not always reveal the full picture of how
families were faring.
Cr Redmond said the community team
has been networkingwith the various
social agencies in the district to ensure
support is available for those who needit.
‘‘Theimpression is that the community
Cycleway nears completion
By DAVID HILL
The new Kaiapoi cycleway is set to be
finallycompleted.
Work is under way on the final section
of the Christchurch to Kaiapoi cycleway,
afterthe WaimakaririDistrictCouncil
decided to review the route lastyear in
response to residents’ concerns.
‘‘It’s very exciting to see the completion
of the cycleway looming,’’ Kaiapoi­
Tuahiwi CommunityBoard chairwoman
ChrisGreengrass says.
‘‘While it has been along and arduous
task for boththe board and the residents
of Peraki and Willockstreets,the board
appreciates the workcouncil staff have
done to try to mitigate fearsthe residents
aired.
‘‘However, the boardwas elected to
represent and make harddecisions
beneficial to Kaiapoiand we believe, as
the resultofthe many meetings held,this
is the safest route and will benefit
Kaiapoi.’’
Kaiapoi PromotionsAssociation
chairman Martin Pinkham saysthe
cycleway is provingtobeasuccessin
bringing cyclists out fromChristchurch.
is in quite goodheart. Unemployment is
low and with the amount of groups
available to help, the mind boggles.
‘‘Social isolation is definitely abig topic
and it’s one areawhere we can help.’’
InitiativessuchasFoodSecure North
Canterbury,the community team’s
neighbourhood barbecues, andthe recent
‘‘tradie breakfast’’are just some examples
of the support available, Cr Redmond says.
Food Secure NorthCanterbury is a
collaboration between variousagencies,
including Satisfy Food Rescue, Social
Services Waimakariri, and the Hurunui
and Waimakariri district councils.
Funding of $690,000 was received from
the Ministry of SocialDevelopmentlast
year towards the foodsecurity initiative,
while the Waimakariri DistrictCouncil
has helped with the employment of staff to
facilitatethe project.
Acommunity hub in Kaiapoiisalso
being consideredaspart of the 2021/31
Long Term Plan, whichwouldinclude a
base for Food Secure NorthCanterbury.
About 500 people attendedeight
barbecues run by the community team
between Decemberand March,which
were ‘‘very successful’’, says Cr Redmond,
who spenttime cooking sausages.
‘‘It’sagreat way for people to connect
with theirneighboursand otherresidents
and, from what the staff said, there were
new connectionsfor peopleliving in the
same neighbourhood who didn’tknow
each other.
‘‘So it’s agreat way of overcoming social
isolation.’’
The tradie breakfastwas agood way to
spread the wordabout whatsupport
services are available, and it is believed
some workers have soughthelp as aresult.
He saysitisessential there is asafe
route for cyclists intoKaiapoi’s town
centre and to link with the Passchendaele
Pathway between Kaiapoi and Rangiora.
‘‘Ican’t believethe number of people
using thatcycleway in the weekends. It’s
amazing.
‘‘It has taken awee while to work with
residents and Ithinkthe people in the
street didn’t quite understand whatwas
being proposed.
‘‘So many cyclists and pedestrians use
Peraki Street anyway, including students
at St Patrick’sand Kaiapoi Borough
Schools, so we had to do something.’’
The success of redeveloping
Christchurch streets into slowroads and
shared pathways shows how well it can
work, Mr Pinkham says.
Councilstaff expect the worktobe
completed by the end of June.
Anew raisedplatform at the northern
end of Peraki Streethas been installed,
while work continues to upgrade the
intersections of Perakiand Fuller streets,
and Vickeryand Isaac Wilson streets. A
platformisalso being installed outsideSt
Patrick’s School, and PerakiStreet is
expected to reopen to traffic this week.
Feedback sought on paua fishery
FisheriesNew Zealand is seeking
public feedbackonproposalstoreopen
the region’s coastline to paua fishing.
FisheriesNew Zealand’smanagerfor
inshore Fisheries South, Allen Frazer,
says shellfishand seaweedclosures
were introduced after the2016 Kaikoura
quakes, whichcaused seabedupliftthat
affected the popular paua fishery.
It was the first time authorities closed
afishery as aresult of an earthquake.
Researchhas since shownanoverall
increase in adult and juvenile paua
since the fishery was closed. The
Kaikoura Marine Guardians has
recommended options to reopenthe
pauafishery later thisyear.
Moreinformation on the
recommendations and how to have asay
can be found online at mpi.govt.nz/
consultations/proposal­to­reopen­thekaikoura­marine­area­to­paua­fishing.
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