Mayor confident Ashburton’s second bridge will get the go ahead
From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Ashburton’s mayor is confident the town’s proposed second Ashburton River Bridge will find favour with the Government but “there is no guarantee.”
Neil Brown met with Finance Minister Grant Robertson at a post-budget event in Timaru last week, where he was told the bridge was in the budget.
“He said ‘your second bridge is in the budget’ when I asked him about the billion-dollar infrastructure spend,” Brown said.
With the treasury forecasting $61.9 billion of infrastructure investment over the next five years, Brown said that while Robertson’s assurance the bridge was in the Government’s budget plans was good news, it wasn’t a guarantee.
Brown hopes a concrete commitment to the project will hopefully come later this year.
The Ashburton District Council is in the process of finalising the third stage of the business case, a detailed design including costs, which will be presented to the council at the start of August.
“Once that has been approved by council, I’ll head off to Wellington with it to present it to the prime minister and deputy prime minister to see where we stand.”
The case for the bridge is clear, it’s one of connectivity and resilience for not just the town but the entire South Island Brown said.
What is up for discussion is how the bridge will be funded.
The new bridge has been estimated to cost about $40 million and the council has budgeted 20%, about $8m, in its long term plan as its contribution to the project, and will hope to secure the remainder from the Government.
As the Chalmers Ave site is not a state highway, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency would normally only fund up to 51% of the project, leaving 29% of the estimated cost to be determined.
Brown hoped the business case would convince the Government to meet that shortfall and said he would be pushing for the project to start as soon as possible.
In all likelihood it will be included in Waka Kotahi’s next three year work plan – the National Land Transport Programme, starting in 2024.
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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62.1% Summer
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36.4% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
Best way to use leftovers?
I'm sure you've got some excess ham at home or cold roast potatoes.
What are some of your favourite ways to use leftover food from Christmas day? Share below.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
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