Bay Harbour: March 30, 2022

Bay Harbour News Wednesday March 30 2022
8
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Repairs under way on
storm-ravaged road
EXEMPLARY: Ross Gillespie (left) and Roger France were
awarded certificates by president Paul Goodman, in
recognition of their contribution to Sumner Ferrymead
Probus.
Life members inducted
THE SUMNER Ferrymead
Probus Club has made life
members of two of its longeststanding
participants.
Ross Gillespie joined the
old Sumner Probus Club in
2000 and from 2005 served as
secretary and later treasurer,
and newsletter editor for nine
years. Ross worked in his family’s
timber business and has assisted
with the Meals on Wheels
program.
He represented New Zealand
at two Hockey World Cups and
four Olympic Games, coaching
the 1976 gold-medal-winning
team in Montreal that was later
inducted into the NZ Sports
Hall of Fame. In 1976, Ross was
awarded an MBE for services to
hockey.
Roger France has been a
Probus member since 2006,
and has served the Sumner and
Ferrymead club as co-ordinator
of its speaker programme, vice
president and then president.
During his tenure the membership
grew to 97 and has remained
at about that level since.
Roger was a senior aeronautical
engineer with Air New Zealand
and trained engineers around
the world. He has been a member
of Round Table and served as
commodore of the Christchurch
Yacht Club.
REPAIRS ARE under way on
storm-damaged Goughs Bay Rd,
near Akaroa.
With a clear plan and design
now in place, work has begun on
the realignment and repair of the
badly damaged road.
The damage occurred after
significant rainfall in December.
City council contractors
have been working to complete
dropout repairs, remove slips and
install road metal over the past
three weeks.
“A priority for
our contractors is
to ensure the work
is able to be completed
safely,” said
city council head of
Lynette
Ellis
transport Lynette
Ellis.
“There are two
areas where water
was found to be flowing through
the hillside and under the main
dropout. This has now been fixed
with subsoil drains, allowing the
water to exit the hillside without
compromising the stability of the
repair work.”
Contractors have completed
the repair of the main road dropout
and rock scaling above the
main slip.
ACCESS: Work is being carried out on Goughs Bay Rd, near
Akaroa, following the December storm event.
The 4WD track between Paua
Bay and Goughs Bay is now complete,
allowing residents to enter
and exit the bay safely.
The new alignment is expected
to take six-to-eight weeks to
complete.
“This timeframe will be subject
to the weather and general site
difficulties, as well as the potential
impacts of Covid-19 on the
workforce,” Ellis said.
The road remains closed to all
non-residents and landowners.
We’re sticking to
our game plan
ADVERTISING
With consultation now open on the Draft
Annual Plan 2022/23, Christchurch City Council
is encouraging people to share their views on
whether its budget strikes the right chord.
The Draft Annual Plan outlines what the Council
plans to spend on projects and day-to-day services
over the coming financial year and how the work
will be financed.
Since our Long Term Plan (LTP) 2021–31 was
confirmed last year, the economic environment
in Ōtautahi Christchurch has been affected by
the same factors the whole world is navigating as
we live with COVID-19 – inflation, supply chain
issues, productivity challenges and more. We
also have significant Government reforms on the
horizon.
Striking the right balance
Our books are balanced and we’re committed
to doing the basics and doing them well whilst
keeping costs as low as possible for ratepayers.
In line with residents’ feedback we’ve prioritised
spending on our water supply network, our
transport network including roads and footpaths
and our facilities. All this has been considered
through the lens of climate change.
We’re in a changing environment and being
realistic about what we can deliver has been key
to this budget. We’ve reviewed the whole capital
programme with a focus on deliverability and
affordability – if we’re not likely to be able to
complete
the work
in 2022/23,
there’s no
need to charge the ratepayer right now.
The main proposals in the Draft Annual Plan
2022/23
• An average proposed rates increase for a
typical household of 4.86%. A typical house is
one with a capital value of $508,608.
• An overall average rate increase across all
ratepayers of 4.96% – slightly less than the
4.97% indicated in the LTP.
• Operational expenditure of $527.5 million and
capital expenditure of $615.5 million.
• Borrowing for the capital programme is $54
million less than planned.
We’re also consulting on other matters which affect
our budget, including a proposed rate increase
on vacant central city land, and some proposed
changes to our kerbside collection service.
Finding the right balance together
Creating a budget for a growing city like
Christchurch is always a balancing act – we think
we have that balance right, but before we can say
that, we need to know what the community thinks.
Visit ccc.govt.nz/annualplan for all the details, and
to have your say by 18 April.
All the feedback will be considered by councillors
before we finalise the budget in June.