Greetings from your Community Board

Message from the Chair

Kia ora koutou,
How much can change in a week! I want to thank you all for responding to the change in Alert Levels so easily. Now we're back to level 1, please make sure you're using the COVID tracer app to sign in at our Council facilities, and stay home if you're feeling unwell. On Friday 12 March, public consultation opens on our city's draft Long Term Plan 2021-31 and draft Ōtautahi Christchurch Climate Change Strategy, two very important pieces of work for our community. Do check out these consultations and share your views. We’ll continue to keep you updated as we make progress. Council is also reviewing representation arrangements for the 2022 and 2025 local elections. Every six years, local authorities review their representation arrangements so that elected members are allocated fairly across the city and represent a similar number of people. This will be very important for our Linwood-Central-Heathcote communities, as the proposal is to divide up our board so that each ward joins with a neighbouring community board. Read more details below.
Stay together, look after one another.

Board Chair, Alexandra Davids

Highlights of our latest meeting

Our Community Board met on Wednesday 3 March. Some highlights of our meeting included hearing from Holly Sullivan, secretary and head coach of the Woolston Boxing Club as part of our Public Forum. Holly presented to the Board regarding the need to find a bigger space to be able to accommodate the youth waitlist that is over a year long. The Board requested that council staff work with the boxing club to look at possible options.
We approved funding for a number of groups and community projects as part of our 2020/21 Youth Development Fund and 2021-21 Discretionary Response Fund. These groups included Kimihia Early Learning Trust, the Gaelic Football and Hurling Association and Christchurch Transitional Architecture Trust.
We also received our Waikura/Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board Area Report for March, which gives us an overview of all the great things happening in our community. 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.

Find out more

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Did you know?

Board delegations and decisions

Did you know the Community Board has delegation to make decisions on planting, maintaining and removing trees on reserves within the policy set by the Council? This delegation is limited to healthy, Council owned trees. To see more, follow the link to the delegations register.

Need funding for a community project?

Applications for the Strengthening Communities Fund are now open until 12 April. The fund supports not-for-profit organisations, which help strengthen community wellbeing.
Find out more and apply now at ccc.govt.nz/scfund

Community Service Awards

Do you know a volunteer who deserves recognition for making our communities better places to live.
Community Service Award applications open this Friday 12 March until 16 April, so get your nominations in now.
For more info visit ccc.govt.nz/csa

What we've been up to this month

Great day out at Estuary Fest

The Waikura/Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board attended the Estuary Fest Event, held on Saturday 27 February. It was great to engage with the local community at such a well-attended and fun event that highlights the importance of the Ihutai.

Music at Edmonds

The Friends of Edmonds Factory Garden Inc held a successful afternoon of live music with a brass band, pipe band, choral music and a bouncy castle for children’s entertainment on Sunday 14 February. The event was well attended, while it caters for all ages it was particularly popular with older adults.

Cut Loose @ Cutler

Around 120 people attended the recent community BBQ on Cutler Park on 16 January 2020. Delivered in partnership with Kidshub, the event featured a slip n’ slide, mud kitchen, harakeke hut building, sports and other activities and games. This was planned as an opportunity to activate the park and engage with the local residents on what they think about the space, how they use it and ideas for future activations. The Community Governance team and Community Board members who attended received valuable insight on potential opportunities for the park.

New date for Linwood-Central-Heathcote Residents Forum

Our community board would like invite representatives from residents and community groups in the Linwood-Central-Heathcote Board Area, to attend our upcoming residents and community group forum on 16 March. This session will occur in two parts, the first for all residents to explain the Draft LTP consultation process and the second (primarily for Central City residents but all are welcome to stay) on the:

Canterbury Multiuse Arena

Central City Residential Programme (also known as ‘Project 8011’)
Key findings and next steps from the last year’s Central City Neighbourhood Conversation Walks

If time, Vacant Spaces

This will be held on Tuesday 16 March 2021, 5.45pm-7.30pm, in the Function Room, First Floor Civic Offices (53 Hereford Street).
Please RSVP to Linwood.Central.Heathcote@ccc.govt.nz with attendance and dietary requirements by Monday 15 March.
Please note, this is subject to change at Alert Level 2 or higher.

Anthems of Belonging opens at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū

The exhibition Anthems of Belonging opens on Saturday 13 March, giving you a glimpse into what five New Zealand families with a wide range of cultural and ancestral connections feel about place and belonging in Aotearoa.

Artist Olivia Webb worked with five families – who have ties to Kiribati, Zambia, Samoa, the Philippines, England and the Netherlands – to create their own songs about living in Aotearoa.

In life-sized video projections, each family is seen performing their anthem from their own lounge room, emphasising both the personal and political qualities of using one’s voice. While they are not professional singers, music is an important part of each family’s culture.

Anthems of Belonging illustrates the diversity of contemporary New Zealand culture, and shows how varied cultural backgrounds and traditions can shape the experience of living and belonging here.

Find out more

FRESH Event @ Christchurch Art Gallery

Join us for a fun night at Christchurch's premiere youth dance party! YCD in association with Mai Canterbury presents FRESH Uptown Boogie Down. This free event will be held on Saturday 13 March from 7pm - 11pm at Christchurch Art Gallery. The Waikura/Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board granted funding to YCD for a series of youth events through their Discretionary Response Fund.

Find out more

Know your zone

The tsunami alerts issued in the wake of the earthquakes near the Kermedec Islands are a timely reminder that people should check if they are in a tsunami evacuation zone. Use the property search function on our online map to check and learn about what you need to do in an evacuation.

Tsunami evacuation zones were updated last year for Banks Peninsula and in 2019 for Christchurch. For more information visit www.ccc.govt.nz/tsunami

Pasifika Fitness Challenge kicks off in Christchurch

A month of free activities to get Pasifika people moving together is kicking off in Christchurch. The Pasifika Fitness Challenge is being led by the Tangata Atumotu Trust with support from the Ministry of Pacific Peoples and Christchurch City Council.

Find out more

Better roads for Linwood and Woolston

We’re making improvements to the transport network in parts of five suburban areas in Christchurch to make it safer and easier to get around.
We’re keen to hear from local people in Beckenham, Somerfield and Spreydon about the small things we could do such as pruning trees or more seating, to the bigger things to make it easier and safer to walk, bike, scooter, get the bus and drive in your neighbourhood.
Read more on Newsline or visit our Have your say page for more details.

Have your say

Ferry Road cycleway trial

We're trialling a new type of cycleway on Ferry Road and lowering the speed to 30 km/h. Slower roads mean a safer way for everyone. The cycleway will connect the existing cycle paths on St Asaph Street and the east end of Ferry Road at Fitzgerald Avenue. Initial work starts on Tuesday 9 February 2021. We’re then planning to use paint, planters and wave separators to create a safer road environment and create a buffer between the cycleway and road.
You can comment on any aspect of the project during the trial here.

Find out more

Keen to help native plants survive?

Come and be part of our Port Hills Reserves volunteer days and help native plants thrive.
Summer has seen some cooler, wet days which has kept the grass growing. The young plantings are being crowded out and volunteers are needed to help cut back grass and weeds around them. Our maintenance days run from 1pm to 3pm. Please meet just before 1pm.

Bowenvale Reserve (Huntsbury) - please meet at 20 Swanton Drive, Huntsbury. Park on the street close to there, but please keep access ways clear for residents.

Latters - meet in the carpark behind the Victoria Park Visitor Centre, to walk to the site.

Come prepared for all weather with sturdy boots for hill work. Hedge clippers and gloves will be provided by the rangers, but please feel free to bring your own. For more information, please visit our website or contact Fiona Fenton on 0275061425 or fiona.fenton@ccc.govt.nz
You can read our latest newsletter to see what else our team have been doing.

Find out more

Council reviewing representation arrangements

Our 2021 Representation Review is getting underway, with Councillors considering an initial proposal covering city-wide representation arrangements for the 2022 and 2025 local elections at Thursday's meeting.

At least once every six years, local authorities have to review their representation arrangements to make sure they’re still fair and provide effective representation for communities. Our last representation review started in 2015. Six years later, we're proposing to keep the electoral system and the number of councillors and community board members as they are, with some tweaks to ward boundaries to balance populations, as required by the Local Electoral Act 2001.

We're also proposing to reduce the number of community boards from seven to six. It is proposed that the Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board is divided up and the wards merged into the three nearby community boards with shared interests.

The Linwood ward would join Waitai/Coastal-Burwood, the Central ward Waipapa/Papanui-Innes, and the Heathcote ward Waihoro/Spreydon-Cashmere. This would mean Council resources to support the boards are distributed more evenly across all the city.

Read more on Newsline and view maps of the proposed boundaries here.

Find out more