North Canterbury News: May 12, 2022

NEWS
4 The North Canterbury News, May 12, 2022
Information wanted
By SHELLEY TOPP
It is hoped that aweddingdress display at
the Rangiora Museum willuncovernew
information about one of the gowns.
Angela Cramond, of Woodend, who is in
charge of the display, says little is known
aboutagown from the 1870s, except that it
was donated by Mrs H.M. Burgin, who is
believedtohave been from Swannanoa.
Each one of the sevenother dresses,
whichdate from 1874 to 1948, in the
display has its own story about the history
of the gown.Insome cases this includes a
wedding gift list, some of the gifts,and
newspaperarticles about thebig day.
The dresses were put on display for
Easter becauseitistraditionally apopular
time for weddings.
‘‘This is possibly the last time these
dresses will all be seen together,’’ Angela
says.The display, has delightedmany
visitors to the museumand will remain on
show for another month or two.
‘‘We havehad agreat response to the
display, but unfortunatelynonew
information has comeforward yet,’’ Angela
says.
The dresses are normally packed away
in special boxes to preserve them but
despite that highlevel of care five dresses
from the 1800s are startingtodeteriorate.
If anybody hasinformation aboutthe
dressdonatedbyMrs Burgin they can
phoneAngelaatthe museum on 03­310
7356 during opening hours on
Wednesdays, 1.30pm to 4pm, and Sundays,
1.30pm to 4pm.
Information wanted ... Rangiora Museum
staff hope its display of eight wedding
dresses, from 1874 to 1948, will help bring in
more information about this gown. It was
donated to the museum by Mrs H.M. Burgin.
PHOTO: SHELLEY TOPP
Response concerns
By ADAM BURNS
Thereare concerns
from the
Waimakariri District
Council arounda
‘‘local response’’to
increasing weather
events once the
managementofthree waters is handed
over.
An increase of flood and extreme
weather events has hit council’s resources
hard in recenttimes due to the subsequent
impact on local water infrastructure.
But there aresuggestions response
timestoissueswill leave the community
even more exposed, after management of
localinfrastructureisabsorbed by oneof
the four regional water entitiesaspartof
the Three Water reforms.
At last week’s councilmeeting,
councillorNiki Mealingsasked what
impact the reforms could have for a
prompt response to post­event problems
following ongoing issues with roadingand
stormwater due to the floods.
Council seniorengineering advisor Don
Youngtold Cr Mealings it was amatter of
concern aroundthe impending reforms.
‘‘If rural drainage does go over to the
entitiesthat’s goingtobeasignificant
interface issue,’’ he says.
He says greater clarity was required
around who would have delegations for
both rural and urbannetworks.
An asset managementoperations and
stormwater working group has been setup
by the Government to investigatethese
issues, Mr Young says.
‘‘It’s hugely challengingand complex.’’
Councillor Philip Redmond also
expresseddoubtsover how nimble anew
authoritywould be to stormwater issues
stemmingfrom futureevents.
‘‘AlthoughIthinkwe’re moving slowly,I
thinkitwould be even slowerunder anew
regime,’’ he says.
‘‘I think alocal response is very
important.’’
Therewas an acknowledgement from
some elected representatives of rain
events and flooding becomingmore
commonplace due to the impactofclimate
change.
Council’s roading teamiscurrently
stretchedthin and admits its struggling to
contend with the volume of service
requests.
During the Februaryflood event the
unsealedroadsaround the foothills
suffered scour, washouts and further
gravel loss.
Rainfall events and wind storms over the
past 12 months have resulted in asurge of
service requests for council’s roading
team.
More than5500 service requests were
recorded in the 2021 calendar year, more
than double of whatwas reported in the
previous year.
‘‘Theroading team as currently
resourcedare struggling to keep up with
the current volume of service requests and
to manage the backlog.
‘‘As such extra resource will be required
to continuetomanagethe higherdemand
and provide timely responses to our
community.’’
More than900 servicerequests
throughoutthe district have been recorded
between January and March.
Aprogramme of repairshas been
developed and is being delivered to
address these roads.
Atotal of $730,000 of unbudgeted costs
were approved by the council lastweek to
fund ongoing recovery of the February
floodevent.
The bulk of these costsare to replace a
culvert on Butchers Road which failed
during theFebruary 12 flood event.
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