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From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Staffing vacancies are not stopping the Ashburton Hospital from providing “all of its services”.
Te Whatu Ora Canterbury executive director of nursing, Becky Hickmott, said the hospital currently has 14.4 full-time equivalent (FTE) nursing … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Staffing vacancies are not stopping the Ashburton Hospital from providing “all of its services”.
Te Whatu Ora Canterbury executive director of nursing, Becky Hickmott, said the hospital currently has 14.4 full-time equivalent (FTE) nursing vacancies it is looking to fill out of its 167 nursing roles at the hospital.
“While we have had some staff movement, our vacancy numbers are higher because we have had an additional 9.3FTE approved for the hospital,” Hickmott said.
“We are actively recruiting into all vacancies and we have three new graduate nurses starting shortly which will reduce our vacancies to 11.4FTE.”
In February, the hospital had 10.6 FTE vacancies, and it was reshuffling staff and reviewing services to cope with demand as the Omicron wave started to sweep through the region.
By June, a number of the positions were filled leaving just 4.8 FTE vacancies to be filled, but five months later that number has risen to 11.4 - bout 6% of the nursing staff.
Hickmott said all services in Ashburton are running despite the vacancies in Ashburton and a health system that is under pressure.
“Seasonal pressures have impacted patient flow throughout our health system, from general practice through to Emergency Departments.
“We are managing our vacancies by asking staff to be deployed where they are needed and asking staff to work additional shifts where possible.
“Our staff have worked really hard this year in a challenging environment. We are working hard to support their wellbeing and to ensure our team have some time out to recharge and take a break over the coming months.”
Adding to the challenge has been the ongoing impacts of Covid, with active cases still circulating in the community.
The Ministry of Health reported 2970 new cases in the region in the last week. It does not break case numbers down to a district level.
While there has been a rise in Covid case numbers in Canterbury, Hickmott said “we are still talking about small numbers”.
“We are transitioning into an endemic state, learning to live with Covid-19 in our communities, and we are stepping down our operations centre.”
*Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
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From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
The building boom continues in Ashburton but is tipped to slow down around March next year.
Ashburton District Council building services manager Michael Wong said things are “still on the up” in the district while nationally there are signs of… View moreFrom local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
The building boom continues in Ashburton but is tipped to slow down around March next year.
Ashburton District Council building services manager Michael Wong said things are “still on the up” in the district while nationally there are signs of a major slowdown.
After a second-straight record year of new builds, Ashburton continues to receive high numbers of new house consents per month, group manager compliance and development Jane Donaldson said.
The council is currently averaging 24 new house consents received per month this financial year (2022-23) she said, compared with 23.5 per month in 2021-22, and 19 per month in 2020-21.
“This is high in comparison to pre-Covid times since 2014 when we averaged just 10 new house consents received per month,” Donaldson said.
The Ashburton District generally goes through consent trends around three months after neighbouring districts, Donaldson said.
“With neighbouring districts indicating signs of a slowdown in consents, it’s possible this may start to show in our figures around March next year.”
Stats NZ reported 3568 new home consents being issued nationally in October, down 12% compared to October 2021, while Ashburton had 64 new consents issued, slightly down (8%) on the 69 in October last year but overall numbers remained high.
“The numbers are still going up so we seem to be bucking the trend that the nationwide situation is showing,” Wong said.
“The builders and designers are still saying they are busy, and we still have people coming through the doors making inquiries.”
The number of building consents issued in 2021-22 was 765 in total, which was a record $237,462,951 worth of consents, surpassing the previous year’s $164.4m.
That figure for 2022/23 was at $63,042,536 at the end of October, with 222 new home consents issued compared to 257 at the same stage last year.
Wong estimated the changes to the building code, relating to increased requirements around window insulation, added between $20,000- $30,000 to construction costs which were having an effect.
He said 27 new build consents were lodged between October 31 and November 1 to try to beat the new rule coming in on November 3.
A further change to the Building Code that will double the roof insulation requirements is also set to come in in May next year and Donaldson predicted there could be another consent surge before the changes come into effect.
Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
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From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Ashburton’s planned second bridge project has a rather large fiscal hole that is currently filled with the hope the Government comes to the party.
The council is making all the right moves to get a second Hakatere/Ashburton River bridge, mayor … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Ashburton’s planned second bridge project has a rather large fiscal hole that is currently filled with the hope the Government comes to the party.
The council is making all the right moves to get a second Hakatere/Ashburton River bridge, mayor Neil Brown says, but it’s not a given that it will get the green light.
Brown is confident the council has a strong case but accepts the big unknown is what projects the country’s other 66 territorial authorities are putting forward that could push Ashburton’s plan down the priority list.
There were some difficult and complex conversations to come in the next 12 months, and the council would do everything its power to build the bridge, he said.
“We are happy to have those conversations. They need to be had so we can get it sorted.”
The council accepted the detailed business case for the now $113.6 million project in August to go to Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency to seek approval.
Waka Kotahi regional relationships director James Caygill said the second bridge was currently in the 2024-27 national land transport plan cycle, which would be finalised by the agency’s board next year.
The first step was the regional land transport plan, which involved the Canterbury regional transport committee prioritising projects put forward by the region’s councils.
Projects were then considered and prioritised nationally, Caygill said.
“The next step is funding the gap,” Brown said.
The council had budgeted $7.5m, but signalled in August it would consider a larger contribution.
The decision was made when signing off the business case to go to Waka Kotahi, which showed the project costs had ballooned from the previously estimated $37m to $113.6m.
If the proposal was accepted, Caygill said it would receive Waka Kotahi’s base funding assistance rate of 51% – or $57.9m.
The council’s business case suggested it was eligible for more than 51%, but even if Waka Kotahi went up to 63% ($70.4m) there was still a shortfall.
The shortfall was at least $48.2m – based on the council's current $7.5m and Waka Kotahi’s minimum of $57.9.
That introduced a third funding stream: the Crown.
The Crown, through the $8.7 billion NZ Upgrade programme, funded Ashburton’s Walnut Ave upgrade and the upcoming Tinwald corridor upgrade, and Brown believed the second bridge could receive similar treatment.
The difficulty was the second bridge was competing against every major project across the country to secure funding and approval.
Brown said the May 2021 floods showed another crossing over the river was crucial for the South Island, and as well as the national significance of being a resilience project, it carried climate change benefits by opening up safer passage for walking and cycling.
Best case scenario, the second bridge project would get Crown funding and construction could start as soon as the detailed designs and tender were finalised.
Failing that, it needed to be approved in the national land transport plan cycle and, with the Crown then funding the gap, boots could be on the ground in 2024, or at some stage in the 2024-27 period.
The worst-case scenario was it missed the cut or fell short on funds to get pushed for consideration in the following NLTP.
The left-field option was the council funding the $113.6m project itself. It could start as soon as the council was ready, but it would come at a heavy cost to ratepayers.
District councillor Russell Ellis pointed to the cost escalation over the last decade, “nearly $10m a year” and the need for urgency as costs continue to rise.
“If we don’t build this thing in the next three or four years, where is that money going to come from?
“The hole just gets deeper and deeper and deeper.”
Councillor Tony Todd said the road to zero campaign and its $193m budget for a “supposedly educational programme” would be better spent on physical works to improve safety.
Have you read our December Seniors Newsletter? Do you have a Community Services Card or know someone who does? From 1 February 2023 Community Services Card holders are eligible for a continued 50% discount on public transport. You can read more in this issue.
This newsletter also includes some … View moreHave you read our December Seniors Newsletter? Do you have a Community Services Card or know someone who does? From 1 February 2023 Community Services Card holders are eligible for a continued 50% discount on public transport. You can read more in this issue.
This newsletter also includes some good advice on how to keep up your hydration and stay safe and cool this summer.
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A report has shown that clinics around New Zealand are understaffed, with GP's being overworked and underpaid. And for everyday kiwis, healthcare and emergency healthcare is simply not accessible.
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Any comments below may be shared in your local paper's We Say You Say column.
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From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
There has been plenty of progress, just not visible progress.
Construction of the $56.75 million Ashburton Library and Civic Centre, Te Pātaka o kā Tuhituhi and Te Waharoa a Hine Paaka, is tracking along, Ashburton District Council chief … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
There has been plenty of progress, just not visible progress.
Construction of the $56.75 million Ashburton Library and Civic Centre, Te Pātaka o kā Tuhituhi and Te Waharoa a Hine Paaka, is tracking along, Ashburton District Council chief executive Hamish Riach said.
“The tarpaulins and wrapping on the outside of the building is to enable work on the inside to proceed with relative protection from the weather prior to the facade of the building being attached,” Riach said.
“While this enables work to proceed, it does mean it is very hard to see building activity behind the tarpaulins.
“Once the facade is attached in the next few weeks and months, the building will look dramatically different.”
The project is still on track to be finished about mid-2023 while the budget remains under significant pressure because of “these difficult Covid times and skyrocketing construction prices".
“We are very grateful for the $20m grant given by the Government to the project as part of its Covid stimulus package.”
Ashburton’s new building will display the names gifted from Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua, Te Pātaka o kā Tuhituhi and Te Waharoa a Hine Paaka, alongside the words Ashburton Library and Civic Centre, Riach said.
Selwyn’s Te Ara Ātea, the multi-use community facility and library that opened in Rolleston in December last year, has been a topic of debate recently.
Rolleston Residents Association members want the Selwyn District Council to put the word “library” under the name of Te Ara Ātea on its signage because they feel people don’t know what the building is – despite it attracting over 100,000 visitors.
Before the building opening the Association had campaigned to have the words community centre removed from the project, as the Rolleston Community Centre, which had housed the old library, was being retained.
The Selwyn council decided to use the name Te Ara Ātea, which means the unobstructed trail to the world and beyond, rather than a by-line describing the building’s various functions.
Arowhenua gifted the names for the new Ashburton library and civic building, with the library known as Te Pātaka o kā Tuhituhi and the civic centre as Te Waharoa a Hine Paaka. Te Pātaka o kā Tuhituhi means the storehouse of written publications, while Te Waharoa a Hine Paaka derives from an ancient matai tree that once stood at Alford Forest. Known as Hine Paaka, the tree was a significant landmark to Māori travelling through the district.
*Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Lessons learned from Walnut Ave are already being put into practice for Ashburton’s next major road works project.
The Tinwald corridor will be upgraded next year with traffic signals and an upgraded rail crossing installed at the intersection … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Lessons learned from Walnut Ave are already being put into practice for Ashburton’s next major road works project.
The Tinwald corridor will be upgraded next year with traffic signals and an upgraded rail crossing installed at the intersection of State Highway 1, Lagmhor Rd, and Agnes St intersection, similar to the recently completed Walnut Ave upgrade.
The Walnut Ave project was criticised for taking too long, with a gap between Waka Kotahi and KiwiRail completing their parts of the project.
Fronting the Ashburton District Council, Waka Kotahi director regional relationships James Caygill said: “taking lessons learned out of the Walnut Ave project”, Waka Kotahi is working closely with KiwiRail to get all the design work done before the project goes out for tender early next year.
“We should have full design wrapped up by the end of the calendar year,” Caygill said.
“And with all things going well on [the tender] front, construction starting before the middle of next year.”
There is no estimated timeframe for completion until the project is tendered he said.
“At this stage, you should expect substantial progress by the middle of next year.”
One change has been made to the designs from the public engagement with the Melcombe St viaduct to remain open to two-way traffic, “with monitoring to maintain that works”, Caygill said.
It was proposed for the viaduct to be limited to left-out only onto SH1 he said, but concerns were raised about the impacts of the limited access “and the way that would cascade back through the level crossings or other intersections”.
The Walnut Ave project was heavily scrutinised by the council and the community over its prolonged timing but Caygill was pleased the project was completed on time.
The community will hope that with Waka Kotahi working closer with KiwiRail before construction begins in Tinwald, the project will not take the 18 months Walnut Ave did to complete.
*Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
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