‘No clear direction’: Schools await fate of building projects
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
Crunchtime is fast approaching for two North Canterbury schools bulging at the seams.
Woodend School and Te Kura o Tuahiwi are on the Ministry of Education’s list of 352 building projects under review.
The review is not expected to be completed until July.
Te Kura o Tuahiwi, a Māori immersion and bilingual school between Kaiapoi and Rangiora, was due to receive five new classrooms and a new hall, with building set to begin last December and be completed next month.
But it was delayed and is now on hold, pending the review.
Principal Dot Singh said the project was designed to take the school’s capacity to 230 students.
For the now school is sitting at its present capacity of 160, with another 33 pupils pre-enrolled to start later this year.
‘‘Now we are wondering where we will put all of those tamariki.
‘‘I feel they (the ministry) will come to the party in some form, it just might not be how we planned it.’’
Woodend School principal Andrew Retallick said his roll was continuing to grow faster than anticipated.
‘‘As off today we have 480 students enrolled, so now it is looking like we will have have at least 520 by the end of the year.
‘‘I’ve had 70 students enrol so far this year and we have 50 year 8s leaving at the end of the year, so it shows you how much we are growing.’’
The site’s capacity is about 490 and by using the school library as a classroom, Retallick said the school could cater for around 510 students.
The school’s growth comes on the back of the booming Ravenswood subdivision.
‘‘The toughest part is the uncertainty and having no clear direction, but I can’t do anything about it until I get some direction from the ministry,’’ he said.
Schools around the country are feeling the pressure while they wait for an update from the Ministry of Education’s review.
Education Minister Erica Stanford announced an inquiry in February, which immediately put the brakes on the projects.
At the time, Stanford said the scope of the building works were ‘‘unrealistic and unaffordable’’.
Ministry of Education Te Tai Runga (South) Hautū (leader) Nancy Bell said there were no updates on the North Canterbury building projects.
‘‘We continue to work closely with the schools in our planning to deliver roll growth teaching spaces to accommodate the schools’ in-zone rolls as required.’’
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Waimakariri district plan faces more delays amid changing rules
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
Changing Government legislation is causing headaches for council staff, as Waimakariri’s new District Plan is set to be delayed again.
Waimakariri District Council development planning manager Matt Bacon said he was relieved when the last of the public hearings ended last week.
But with final council reports due on December 13, staff will have just two working days to present the final District Plan on December 17. A district plan helps to control and manage the development of the district or city.
‘‘We are working through what it looks like and we will update the council at its meeting on December 3,’’ Bacon said.
‘‘But we will likely seek another extension from the environment minister and the Resource Management Act (RMA) minister.’’
The council first notified its draft District Plan in September 2021, but within months legislation was introduced with new medium density residential housing standards (MDRS).
‘‘We needed to call for further submissions and we had to create a separate hearing panel to consider the plan variations to allow for the MDRS,’’ Bacon said.
‘‘We have tried to merge the process as much as possible, as well as looking at re-zoning and incorporating other new legislation.’’
When the draft plan was first notified there was no National Policy Statement (NPS) for Indigenous Biodiversity, but an NPS was introduced - and then replaced.
The Natural and Built Environment Act came into being last year and then repealed, and then there is the NPS on Urban Development and the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.
The Government is now working on more RMA reforms and Environment Canterbury is working on the Canterbury Regional Policy Statement.
And then there is the Fast-Track Approvals Bill, which includes three proposed housing developments in Waimakariri - two of them outside of the future urban development areas identified in the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan.
All three housing developments in the Bill have been included in submissions to the District Plan, including a proposed 850-home development at Ohoka, near Rangiora, which is also subject to an Environment Court appeal.
‘‘We haven’t seen the detail, so whether it is the same proposals, we don’t know, but they are different processes so we have to just keep doing what we are doing, until we are told otherwise,’’ Bacon said.
‘‘It might just be a timing thing, but we just don’t know.’’
Bacon said delaying the District Plan until new legislation is in place is not an option.
‘‘We are looking at what we can control and having a watching brief, and we will look at transitional timings because we don’t always have to immediately change planning documents when new legislation comes in.’’
Planning manager Wendy Harris said navigating changing Government legislation is a normal part of council planning work.
‘‘If we waited we wouldn’t do anything and we would go nowhere.’’
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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