Canterbury Charity Hospital considers legal action over 'inferior' cycleway design
From reporter Tina Law:
The Canterbury Charity Hospital is considering launching a judicial review against the city council over its decision to push ahead with an “unsafe and inferior” cycleway.
The Christchurch City Council last week approved the final design for the $22.6 million, 4.5-kilometre Wheels to Wings cycleway on Harewood Rd, following 19 months of consultation and more than 70 design changes.
The cycleway passes the hospital’s front gate and its bosses first raised concerns about its design early last year.
The charity hospital wants the council to go ahead with an alternative community-led design, which was considered by the council but eventually dismissed because it had “safety concerns that could not be resolved”.
The council voted 11 to 6 in favour of pushing ahead with the staff-recommended design.
Hospital chairman Phil Bagshaw and executive officer Carl Shaw said in a statement, they were dismayed at the council’s decision to accept an “inferior version” of the cycleway.
They said the hospital trust had grave concerns for the safety of its patients and staff and believed the community had been ignored.
A statement issued by the trust’s lawyer, Jamie Robinson of Duncan Cotterill, said the hospital believed the community option was safer and less costly than what the councillors approved.
She said the fact the community proposal was not given fuller consideration by the council had resulted in the hospital seeking legal advice on its options to judicially review the decision.
“The Canterbury Charity Hospital is frustrated by the decision of the councillors, and specifically that the alternative option strongly supported by the community was not given more consideration.”
Bagshaw and Shaw would not comment on how the hospital would pay for legal action or when a firm decision would be made.
They directed all inquiries to Robinson, who did not answer those questions.
City council chief executive Dawn Baxendale is on the charity hospital trust board, which presumably would make the final decision over legal action.
Bagshaw and Shaw said in a statement the council did not carry out an independent safety audit on the community design, which was created by three highly experienced engineers with more than 100 years of experience between them.
Council head of transport Lynette Ellis said staff had worked with the hospital throughout the development of the cycleway, most recently in the last two months.
She said staff were working to clarify their concerns and were confident that those could be mostly resolved through a design solution.
At last week’s council meeting, during some intense questioning from councillors, Ellis went to great pains to explain staff had seriously considered the alternative design but they could not make it work no matter how hard they tried.
Ellis said road safety audits did not provide a comparison between different options, so it went with an independent design review instead.
The review was undertaken by Chartered Professional Engineers, who were recognised in the field of road safety and design for active modes of transport, she said.
The council-approved design would see Harewood Rd reduced from four vehicle lanes to two lanes to make way for one-way cycle lanes on both sides of the road between Nunweek Boulevard and Greers Rd.
At Nunweek Park the cycleway will become two-way on the south side of Harewood Rd towards Russley Rd.
From Greers Rd towards the railway line in Papanui, the cycleway will be two-way on the north side apart from a small section outside Mitre 10 where it will become one-way on both sides of the road.
The community plan (pictured) involved a two-way cycleway on the south side of the Harewood Rd median strip.
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Kalle
"Sports and travelling run in the family, and that's kind of what's led me to come to New Zealand."
"I grew up in a small town in Finland. My dad was involved with sports all his life, he was a shot putter, discus thrower, powerlifter, we traveled quite a bit when I was a kid. He never mentioned much of the rugby days. He just said he broke both of his shin bones playing rugby, so he said, ‘never play the sport, It's crazy.’
I started playing when I was 18. I played my first cap for the Finnish national team in 2014, we won the Finnish championship with my club. Rugby is not a big thing in Finland.
I moved here to play rugby in 2017. The club that wanted me to come over was Methven Rugby Club. They got me here and they were like, ‘what do you do for work? I’d just finished chef school in Finland. ‘We'll get you a job at Mount Hutt as a chef, you can do that while you play rugby with us.’ I said, ‘Perfect. Yeah, I'm in’.
I've always loved food. My mum was an amazing cook, and still is. When I was studying tourism I worked in some hotels in Finland, and I saw how the chef's worked. I just loved the kitchen vibe and I was like, Yeah, that’d be something I'd love to do.
I've had more of a culinary journey In New Zealand than in Finland. I started at Mount Hutt, after that I worked at The Dubliner in Methven. I worked as a senior pizza chef at Sal’s for maybe six months then worked as chef de partie at Cellar Door. At Eliza's Manor, I worked myself up to a junior sous chef. Then the opportunity came to work my first head chef job at Moon Under Water.
We're privileged to have a busy atmosphere, we can try new things and get a bit creative. There are no TV’s, just come here with your family or with your mates, play board games, to socialise.
I really want to drive the local food and ingredients through the menu. We don't mind spending more for quality ingredients as long as it's supporting New Zealand businesses. We just love to use local. And it's pub food, but I feel like it's elevated.
I play club rugby here for the Christchurch Football Club, the oldest club in New Zealand and I still play regularly for the Finnish national team, whenever they can fly me over to play."
- Kalle
View more stories, or nominate someone: @humansofchch
www.humansofchch.org......
Have your say on Canterbury’s public transport
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
Canterbury residents are being encouraged to have their say on public transport in the region.
Environment Canterbury has released its draft public transport plan and is seeking submissions.
The draft plan outlines a vision for public transport in the region and notes key priorities such as improving the environment, growing patronage, accessibility, innovation and technology, and affordability.
‘‘Public transport takes many forms with communities across our region,’’ councillor Peter Scott said.
‘‘With limited funding available, we need to make sure we make the best decisions to deliver a public transport network that is integrated with urban development, innovative and meets the needs of new and existing customers.
‘‘Effective public transport is the lifeline that connects us to work, school, recreation and our friends and family, so it is important we get this right.’’
The Canterbury’s population is growing and by 2050, it is projected 700,000 people will be living in Greater Christchurch.
The draft plan covers public transport for the region, which includes the Metro service (Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri), MyWay by Metro in Timaru, Total Mobility and Community Vehicle Trusts.
It was developed in partnership with local councils and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
Environment Canterbury has been planning to step up its public transport efforts by increasing the frequency of existing services and introducing mass rapid transport in Greater Christchurch.
But these plans have been stalled by a lack of public transport funding in the Government’s 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme.
A proposal to allow people to travel with domestic pets is also included in the draft plan.
Having pets on buses has been successfully trial in other parts of New Zealand, councillor Joe Davies said.
‘‘We’re keen to understand what controls are needed for our bus users in Greater Christchurch and Timaru to be comfortable with pets on public transport.
It is proposed to allow adult passengers to bring a single pet on board, as long it is in an approved carrier at off-peak times, weekdays between 9am and 3pm or after 6pm, and during weekends.
Another proposal would loosen those restrictions in future to allow for leashed and muzzled dogs and increasing the limit to two pets per passenger.
‘‘We want to gauge how people feel about these proposals. Now is the time to have your say,’’ Davies said.
Submissions close on Thursday, October 24.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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