North Canterbury News: October 14, 2021
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NEWS<br />
16 <strong>North</strong> <strong>Canterbury</strong> <strong>News</strong>, <strong>October</strong> <strong>14</strong>, <strong>2021</strong><br />
Full flight ... Bordeaux wins the South Bay Trotter’s Cup at apast Kaikoura Cup race<br />
meeting.<br />
PHOTO: RACE IMAGES<br />
Cup transfers to Addington<br />
Covidrestrictions have prompted<br />
Kaikoura’s big race meeting to be<br />
transferred to Addington Raceway in<br />
Christchurch.<br />
The annualtwoday meeting at the scenic<br />
SouthBay Racecourse was scheduled to be<br />
run at KaikouraonSunday, <strong>October</strong> 31, and<br />
Monday, November1.<br />
However, the KaikouraTrotting Club<br />
committee has reluctantly madethe<br />
decision to transfer the meetingto<br />
Addington this year.<br />
‘‘It is one of the biggestdecisions in our<br />
history,’’ Kaikoura Trotting Club president<br />
Ben Smith says.<br />
‘‘We havebeen racingonthe allweather<br />
tracktherefor 68 years and have never had<br />
to consider such asituation.But we haveto<br />
be pragmatic.’’<br />
Mr Smith says the lack of any detail from<br />
the Government aboutCovid19 alert levels<br />
in the leadup to the November meeting<br />
meanttheyhad littlechoice.<br />
‘‘Thecommittee is just asmall group of<br />
volunteers and we looked at every option,<br />
but we had too manyquestions about<br />
running themeetingatKaikoura at Level 2<br />
so the decision was made to go to<br />
Addington,’’ Mr Smith says.<br />
The club will raceonMonday, November<br />
1, featuringa13race programme, justeight<br />
days before theNew ZealandCup.<br />
‘‘While disappointed for the Kaikoura<br />
trackspecialistsweare enthusiastic about<br />
what horses will turnupfor both the<br />
$50,000 Alabar Kaikoura Cup and the<br />
$30,000 MajesticSon SouthBay Trotters<br />
Cup giventhe meeting will be two days<br />
before the New ZealandCup trial, also at<br />
Addington, so hopefullysome of thoseCup<br />
horses willlook at racing at our meeting<br />
instead,’’ Mr Smith says.<br />
‘‘We knowalot of people are going to be<br />
saddened by what has happened, but we<br />
are obviously going to do everythingwecan<br />
to make it ahugelysuccessfulday.’’<br />
Council to consult on<br />
cycle ways, parking<br />
By DAVID HILL<br />
Walking and cyclingdevelopments,<br />
parking, urban development, three<br />
watersratingand flood recovery were<br />
among the topics discussed at last<br />
week’sWaimakariri District Council<br />
meeting.<br />
While disappointed not to receive<br />
funding fromWaka Kotahi New Zealand<br />
Transport Agency recently towards the<br />
district’s proposed walking and cycling<br />
initiatives, councillors decided to<br />
proceed with plannedconsultationof<br />
the Walking and Cycling Network Plan.<br />
‘‘A lot of workhas gone into it so we do<br />
want to engage with our community,’’<br />
Mayor Dan Gordon says.‘‘Even though<br />
we don’thave the full fundingwe<br />
wanted, we stillfeel it’s important to<br />
have the conversation and you never<br />
know withadvocacy, what it mightlead<br />
to.’’<br />
Consultation willbecarried out in<br />
February and March nextyear.<br />
Several options can be explored,<br />
including spendingthe council’s<br />
budgeted $563,500tocomplete a<br />
reduced work programme, or increase<br />
the funding to makeupfor some or all of<br />
the shortfall.<br />
Councillors also approved adraft<br />
district parking strategy which will go<br />
out for consultation for four weeks from<br />
Mondayuntil November <strong>14</strong>.<br />
‘‘We look forward to the feedbackfrom<br />
the community,’’ Mr Gordonsays. ‘‘We<br />
get quite afew views expressed on<br />
disability parking and time limits,so<br />
this is an opportunity for the publicto<br />
come back withtheirviews and tell us<br />
what theythink.’’<br />
Disability parking is alsobeing<br />
considered as part of the processof<br />
developing adisability strategy for the<br />
district.<br />
The new northeast Rangiora<br />
development area is one step closer to<br />
becoming areality after councillors<br />
approved changes to the development<br />
contributions policyschedule, following<br />
public consultationand agreement from<br />
the developer Bellgrove Rangiora Ltd.<br />
An application will now be made to the<br />
Minister for the Environment to fast<br />
trackthe project.<br />
Anew 3Watersrating structure was<br />
also considered,but councillors decided<br />
to hold off until early next year while the<br />
council awaits for the outcome of the<br />
government’s proposed 3Waters<br />
Reform.<br />
‘‘We thought it would be confusing if<br />
we went out now and consulted,and<br />
then things changed,’’ Mr Gordon says.<br />
‘‘Butthere will be atime whenweneed<br />
to have thatconversation of whether we<br />
join anotherratingscheme.Weare still<br />
not clear whether it would be the<br />
council collecting the rates,should to<br />
proposed reformsgoahead.’’<br />
Recovery managerSimon Hart<br />
presented his finalreport, following the<br />
May 31 floodevent, noting that anumber<br />
of lessonshad beenlearned from the<br />
eventand opportunities identifiedto<br />
improve future recovery efforts. It was<br />
confirmed that ongoingflood recovery<br />
work will continue as part of the<br />
council’s established work programmes.<br />
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breast cancer in this lockdown.<br />
And counting...<br />
Join us, demand Government action on breast cancer now.<br />
Sign the petition missingwomen.org.nz<br />
Get checked. Re-book your mammogramimmediately.
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