Bike skills park gathers momentum
From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
A bike skills park has plenty of backing but nowhere to go in Ashburton - yet.
The project has gathered traction and an initial meeting earlier this month showed there is plenty of support for the idea, deputy mayor Liz McMillan said.
“There is quite a lot of work to do but it’s got a lot of support already which is great."
A bike skills park is for young children to learn to ride a bike in a safe environment away from footpaths and roads.
The idea for bringing one to Ashburton was raised in the walking and cycling strategy submissions in 2020 by Safer Mid Canterbury’s Lesley Symington, McMillan said.
“It was discussed a bit but it has only just started to gain traction”.
An initial meeting this month involved councillors, council staff, Rotary and Lions club members, and Safer Mid Canterbury.
The meeting also had representatives of the Timaru Suburban Lions who provided the group with the details of how they built a $500,000 bike skills park at Caroline Bay.
It provided plenty to think about, but the biggest initial challenge is finding a suitable site.
Several were being considered, including the Ashburton Domain, EA Networks Centre, and Tinwald Domain, McMillan said.
“We’ll move forward but we just have to figure out a spot for it.”
Council democracy and engagement group manager Toni Durham said there were “a few factors we are working through in terms of an open space for it to go into”.
That included being accessible for communities, visible, and meeting crime prevention through planning and design requirements, she said.
The next meeting will be held in July, to consider options to progress the project.
Once a suitable location is found, plans can be drawn up to start working out costs, which will determined on size, Durham said.
Like Timaru, McMillan hopes to include traffic lights in the park to further help teach young riders about road safety without having them on the roads.
⚠️ 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 ❤️
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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62.2% Summer
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36.3% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
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