Greetings from your Community BoardMessage from the ChairKia ora koutou, Highlights of our latest meetingOur Community Board met on Monday 31 August. Some highlights of our meeting included hearing from the Avebury House Trust, who have just been granted a 20-year lease to continue running this beautiful community facility and approving funding for The Salvation Army Community Trust as part of our Discretionary Response Fund. We also received a briefing on four exciting projects that have been awarded special funding from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency's $7 million Innovating Streets for People pilot fund, including a temporary cycle connection along Ferry Road between Fitzgerald Ave and St Asaph Street. You can read the minutes to see what else we discussed and find out the dates, times and details of upcoming Community Board and Council meetings here. Planting and bird-watching makes a great day for Redcliffs studentsStudents from Redcliffs School joined forces with our Parks team for a volunteer day of planting and bird-watching, exploring the connectivity of all living things. The students used our Education Team’s binoculars and bird identifying gear to spot a number of native and migrating bird species in the estuary, including black-backed gulls, shags, terns and kotare / kingfisher. The students are keen to keep watering their plants over the summer, and do regular rubbish pick-ups, fulfilling a kaitiaki role of the diverse area across from their brilliant new school buildings and site. Seven candidates contest Community Board by-electionSeven candidates have put their names forward to represent the Central Ward at the Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board by-election, which is being held on 16 October – one day before New Zealand’s re-scheduled General Election. Funding secured for Ferry Road cycle connectionThe Ferry Road Cycle Connection is one of four Christchurch projects that's been awarded special funding from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency's $7 million Innovating Streets for People pilot fund. This project involves trialling a temporary cycle connection along Ferry Road between Fitzgerald Avenue and St Asaph Street, connecting the Heathcote Expressway major cycle route to the central city and making it easier and safer for people to move around. Council will be working with the local community and key stakeholders to design and deliver this project. An update on the Woolston Village upgradeIt’s week eight of construction and we've completed more than half of the sewer upgrade already, using a process called spiral lining. Because we've lined parts of the old wastewater pipe instead of replacing it, we have avoided trenching through some of the busiest parts of Ferry Road and are working ahead of schedule. We’re working in several locations around Woolston Village to renew the sewer network and our teams will continue moving through the Village to complete this work. Next, we'll close the top of Portman Street and Oak Street so our drainage team can replace this section of pipeline. Community Board member Jackie Simons shares why she loves WoolstonI grew up in Woolston, and went to Woolston school (now Te Waka Unua) in the 1960's. We had a vibrant community then, with sports clubs and the Woolston pool which was in the park next to the school. Families were connected by the school and local events and we had a sense of Community. By the time I returned to raise my family in 1992, it was vastly different. The swim club was long gone and the pool had only a few years to go before it was closed. Times changed, low incomes and less home ownership introduced a transient population; Ferry Road became a busy main road and our sense of community slowly faded. In recent years the shops in the heart of Woolston have been at the disadvantage of being on a very busy thoroughfare; uninviting unless you had a specific reason to go there. There are some real retail gems hidden there and also, so I'm told, the best fish and chip shop in Christchurch. But there has been nowhere to sit and have a yarn, or watch the world go by, or get to know your neighbours over a coffee or an ice-cream. The Woolston Village upgrade will provide our area with a 'Village' type shopping precinct, it will become somewhere nice to spend your time. The traffic will be slowed making it easier to cross the road, and the addition of trees and plants will detract from the vehicles driving through to get somewhere else. I look forward to spending time there, not just a one shop stop. Woolston is my forever home, I love the Heathcote River and the ease of getting to the inner city or our suburban beaches. And, now we are being given an opportunity to rebuild our community and local identity. I intend to embrace the opportunity and run with it. * Jackie Simons is a member of the Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board. Opawa turns page on stunning new libraryA striking new “edition” of a dedicated community library has opened in Opawa. Following nearly 10 years without a permanent base, the volunteer-run Opawa Public Library finally has a home, sharing the new Christchurch City Council-funded, purpose-built building with the local Children’s Library. Subsidies available for neighborhood eventsHave you ever wanted to organise a neighbourhood gathering? The Community Boards are making small subsidies available to help support Summer with your neighbours events. Funding available for projects that bring people togetherPeople with ideas for services or events that will aid the recovery of communities affected by the mosque attacks are being reminded they can access funding through the Community Activation Fund, which was set up by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) in partnership with the Council and the Office of Ethnic Communities. Climate change focus for revamped Sustainability FundProjects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions within Christchurch or support resilience to the impacts of climate change could now be eligible for a grant from Christchurch City Council. Post-quake rebuild puts Christchurch back togetherFrom skate parks and paddling pools up to more major structures, several hundred suburban facilities where people come together to exercise, play, relax, socialise and learn have been repaired and rebuilt across the city, at a cost of more than $150 million in the decade since the devastating Canterbury earthquakes. Get information and advice about COVID-19Council's facilities are open during Alert Level 2, with many things in place to help keep people well. Please stay at home if you, or anyone in your house, is unwell, and practice physical distancing when visiting our facilities. For the latest updates on Council facilities and services please visit Newsline. For everything you need to know about COVID-19, visit Unite against COVID-19. For health concerns and advice, visit Ministry of Health. Contact your Community BoardThe Waikura/Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board are here to provide support and advice to our community. Contact the Linwood-Central-Heathcote |