In the media

23/12/2024 - The Press - "Plan to narrow Deans Ave for pedestrian island: waste of money or not enough action?"

"Residents advocacy group Greater Ōtautahi shared its Deans Ave submission online, which supported the merging of lanes and installation of speed humps, and called for more crossings and safety improvements, including signalled crossings and reducing the road speed."

21/12/2024 - The Press - "‘Ban for life’ mooted for man asking council too many questions"

14/12/2024 - The Press - "Christchurch may self-fund next stage of mass rapid transit"

"M Grace-Stent, representing urbanist group Greater Ōtautahi, said the council did not have to choose one project over another.

The council should determine it’s own future and take initiative to prepare the city for population growth, rather than waiting for Wellington to come to the party, they said.

“There's just no other way around it. At some point we're going to need to upgrade and improve our public transport network to become a city that allows more people to live here,” they said."

05/12/2024 - The Press - "Council makes ‘bonkers’ decision to keep Cranford St bus lane"

"A bus lane was supported by the National Public Health Service, Environment Canterbury, St Albans Residents’ Association, St Albans School, Spokes Canterbury and Greater Ōtautahi."

03/12/2024 - The Spinoff - "Why can’t bikes go on buses in New Zealand?"

"Peter Galbraith is a member of Greater Ōtautahi, a group of Christchurch residents focused on improving housing and public transport access. He’s been using the bike racks on buses to visit family in Rangiora. The bike means it’s much faster to get to the bus stop, and then get to his dad’s house at the other end. “Not having to bike all the way there saves me time, and not driving saves me money,” he says. Losing the bike rack means he has to take several buses for his journey. “It does inconvenience me – I’m not sure why they have to ban the racks during the daytime, when the headlights aren’t in use,” he said. "

02/12/2024 - The Press - "‘A missed opportunity’: Tied vote kills chance to rezone Sydenham"

M Grace-Stent, chairperson of urbanist group Greater Ōtautahi, felt the same way, saying the Sydenham land was “prime for development”.

However, both the urbanist and residents association representatives agreed that councillors had taken Christchurch “a step in the right direction” in their vote on new planning rules, making it easier to build up - rather than out - across much of the city.

16/11/2024 - The Press - "Community board backs bus lane for Cranford St"

"Harrison McEvoy, representing urban advocacy group Greater Ōtautahi, said traffic modelling showed the extra lane would be full of cars within five years - effectively doubling the problem."

12/11/2024 - The Press - "Ratepayers face $51m bill to upgrade railway crossings"

'"Cody Cooper, from transport advocacy group Greater Ōtautahi, said completing the Annex Rd stretch of the Nor'West Arc cycleway was essential for connecting neighbourhoods, such as Wigram, Hillmorton and Hoon Hay, with key destinations like the University of Canterbury and Riccarton.

“Annex Rd is an industrial area, with high truck traffic making a dedicated cycleway crucial for cyclist safety. Much of the portion that is not completed till now has very narrow painted cycle lanes which are located on bends. These are pinch points for cyclists, particularly so with the volume of truck traffic."

He said completing the cycleway would provide a safe, practical route, reduce congestion, and promote active transportation.

Cooper said an $11m pedestrian bridge offered extremely poor value for money."

1/11/2024 - The Press - "Cyclists forced to use ‘more dangerous’ crossing if cycleway closed"

There were far more safety measures at Scruttons Rd than at the Chapmans Rd level crossing where cyclists would be forced to detour across, Greater Ōtautahi board member Cody Cooper said.

Greater Ōtautahi is an advocacy group that lobbies to improve public and active transport, and increase access to housing.

Cooper said the closure would force cyclists over a three-track railway crossing on Chapmans Rd that has no cycling safety interventions.

“The Chapmans Rd crossing is much more dangerous, mainly due to the sight lines - you cannot see trains approaching - and there is no barrier or chicane for cyclists.”

Scruttons Rd is quiet, semi-rural, and leads to a dead-end, whereas Port Hills Rd and Chapmans Rd have a number of trucks on them and the latter is home to Lyttelton Port Company’s city depot.

Cooper said KiwiRail seemed to overlook the real risk these detours posed to cyclists from trucks, which would discourage walking and cycling in the area.

He also questioned the legality of the closure, because the council's Pedestrian Accessway Closure Policy 2020 required community boards to agree to any closures.

28/10/2024 - Stuff - "Outskirts or inner-city living? How Christchurch plans to regrow the CBD"

"Greater Ōtautahi spokesperson David Palmer said in a statement that the group felt fast-tracking the projects was “a missed opportunity to accelerate the growth of our city”.

“We would prefer to see projects focus on urban intensification and sustainable transport, rather than lazily continuing to spread out across the plains,” he said."

23/10/2024 - Letters to The Press

Mike Yardley makes some objectionable claims in Prolonged transport projects heading for important decisions (Oct 22).

Concerning the Wheels to Wings cycleway, the public should be aware that the pause in work was not random. It was a council decision spearheaded by Crs Victoria Henstock and Aaron Keown that deferred any construction work for 12 months to ostensibly “allow councillors to consult with the community further”. OIA requests have since shown no further consultation issues were raised with councillors or the council during that period and that the approved design was suitable. That delay is the primary reason costs have risen.

A Cranford St bus lane is supported by the National Public Health Service, ECan, St Albans Residents’ Association, St Albans School, Spokes Canterbury and Greater Ōtautahi, alongside a petition signed by more than 1500 residents. Unless we want our community to look like Curletts Rd, we must avoid a clearway. It’s as simple as that.

Finally, Mike claims consultants double up as cycle infrastructure lobbyists. This is dubious at best. Perhaps it is worth considering why so many experts are recommending cycle infrastructure, rather than making unfounded claims.

Harrison McEvoy, St Albans

22/10/2024 - The Press - "What to do about Cranford St?"

"A bus lane was supported by the National Public Health Service, Environment Canterbury (ECan), St Albans Residents’ Association, St Albans School, Spokes Canterbury and Greater Ōtautahi."

05/10/2024 - The Press - "Forget the food trucks, bring back the Dux de Lux, its founder says"

"Jack Halliday, on behalf of urbanist group Greater Ōtautahi, said the petition was a shocking display of anti-competitive behaviour.

There was evidence food trucks increased a city’s vibrancy and activity, he said, and they should be embraced, not demonised.

However, he didn’t think the petition should be ignored either. He said the council should review its ratings policies to level the playing field with brick-and-mortar businesses."

17/08/2024 - The Press - "Mothballing cathedral may cost $5m but free up public land"

"M Grace-Stent, 26, said most rangatahi (young people) did not consider the cathedral or Cathedral Square as the heart of the city.

Grace-Stent, who chairs urbanist group Greater Ōtautahi, said people wanted to live and spend time in in central Christchurch but there needed to be more spaces where young people could hang out, feel safe, and not be forced to spend money while doing it.

The Cathedral didn’t need to be restored to make that happen, Grace-Stent said.

“The worst thing is to keep dragging it [the Cathedral rebuild] out. There just needs to be some decisions made.”"

03/08/2024 - Letters to The Press

Prioritise affordability

I have been really excited after the release of the IHP report into residential density changes. The report outlines a vision for Christchurch where we grow upwards rather than endlessly outwards.

Increasing density makes it easier for the city council to provide core services, and will ultimately reduce the rates burden on individual homeowners.

I would rather we prioritise the need for affordable housing and transport over people pruning roses in the buff.

David Palmer, Redwood

Sunlight excuse irks

I’m disappointed to read letters from people fortunate to live in the centre of our city, using the excuse of Christchurch’s “unique” sunlight to try to prevent more new homes being built near them.

Christchurch is located at between 43 and 44 degrees of latitude South (43.5°S), so we have sunlight comparable with cities in the Northern Hemisphere between 43 and 44 degrees North.

Millions live in cities above the 44th parallel: London (51°N), Paris (49°N), Amsterdam (52°N), Copenhagen (56°N), Berlin (53°N), Seattle (48°N), and Portland (46°N). These cities are world-renowned for their liveability, and are beautiful dense cities people love. In fact, many young Christchurch residents will move to these cities because they can’t afford homes here.

The sunlight excuse is holding our city back. Well-designed new apartments and townhouses will be healthier than our current leaky, cold homes.

Peter Galbraith, Hillmorton

02/08/2024 - The Press - "Christchurch should allow denser housing near flight paths, experts say"

"Greater Ōtautahi spokesman M Grace-Stent said the group was “happy to see” the panel’s recommendations, and the city’s proposed restriction would have been “way too high, and the highest worldwide”.

“We are hoping the council agrees with them, and takes up these recommendations,” Grace-Stent said.

“It affects a significant area. It includes areas that council has identified for housing growth, such as Ilam around the university, and Riccarton. These are places with transport corridors.”

Grace-Stent said while acoustic insulation was probably a good idea, councils had to be careful not to add too many rules, making housing unaffordable.

“Broadly, there needs to be more housing, and better quality housing, across the city.”"

25/07/2024 - Letters to The Press

In response to Tony Simons’ letter, there are a multitude of things to be said about the state of housing land capacity in this city.

For starters, the Government’s approach is no sledgehammer, it is barely a pin hammer. It will do the bare minimum required to ensure our city has enough housing for our citizens at a price that we can afford.

As for freeing up commercial space in the suburbs, more concern should be given to the amount of low-density sprawl we have encouraged. Without core areas, there will not be the promised redevelopment that is so desperately needed. Without core areas, our population is not sufficiently concentrated to justify new council amenities or services. These are important factors in social investment; the lack of which is a driving factor in the ‘slums’ that are of such concern. It is not the density of housing that defines slums, it is the lack of investment.

Mr Simons also fails to recognise that the way we have built our city has left our council with a massive infrastructure overhead and a widely dispersed rating base (high costs, low budgets). Should he want rates to plateau, one of the easiest ways to do so is to increase density.

This city has many problems with its land capacity. None are unsolvable. All require us to think outside of the status quo.

Harrison McEvoy, Spokesperson, Greater Ōtautahi

06/07/2024 - The Press - "Bus patronage rising, but still stubbornly low"

Harrison McEvoy, spokesperson for urbanist group Greater Ōtautahi, described Christchurch’s public transport network as “woefully under developed” and “ill equipped” to manage future demand.

The group has started a petition calling on the Government to direct funds to the city’s public transport.

Auckland spends about $1275 per person on public transport, compared to about $225 per person in Canterbury, according to the Greater Christchurch Partnership’s 2023 PT Futures/Mass Rapid Transit business case.

There is nothing in the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport related to public transport for the South Island, nor is there anything within the $2.7 billion transport spend in this year’s Budget.

The $78 million earmarked by the last Government to scale up Greater Christchurch’s public transport network faster has been scrapped.

And in an attempt to lower rates hikes, ECan recently voted to delay work on the next mass rapid transit business case by another year, saving $600,000; decrease funding for more frequent Route 7 Halswell to Queenspark buses - due to begin in the middle of the year - until 2025 (saving $500,000); and to save $2.9m by delaying Route 1 (Rangiora to Cashmere) improvements until 2026.
Meanwhile, the NZ Transport Agency removed $800m earmarked for mass rapid transit from the 10-year plan.

“There’s been business case after business case” all indicating commuter rail and mass rapid transit would work in Christchurch, McEvoy said.

“But we get bogged down because all the funding goes to business cases and consultants.”

05/06/2024 - Letters to The Press

Anyone else feel that Christchurch has been forgotten by this Government?

Simeon Brown is investigating a tunnel being dug under Wellington (a city of 203,000), which would be a multibillion-dollar project to save MPs 10 minutes on their drive to the airport, yet Christchurch, New Zealand’s second-largest city, with a population of 391,000, can’t get funding for a proper bus system.

To fund the Public Transport Futures programme put forward by the Greater Christchurch Partnership would require less than $80 million from central government, and we’d finally get an adequate public transport system. I would also remind people that Christchurch is the largest city in Australasia without a mass rapid transport system.

Greater Christchurch now has a population of 535,000 and is growing fast. We need a public transport system that reflects this growth.

Peter Galbraith, Hillmorton

08/05/2024 - The Press - "Council urged to increase rates and protect communities"

"Harrison McEvoy, representing urbanist group Greater Ōtautahi, said a recent GNS report indicated that $3.2 billion worth of council property was at risk of sea level rise and persistent flooding over the next 20 to 30 years.

He said future ratepayers won’t be wealthier than ratepayers today, so it didn’t make sense to delay projects that would inevitably be more expensive down the line.

He and many other submitters wanted the council to push ahead with both major and local cycle networks - including Te Aratai College cycleway connection and projects that would benefit east Christchurch - which were potentially being delayed or put on hold entirely."

03/05/2024 - Letters to The Press

We are disappointed by comments yesterday by Councillors Pauline Cotter and Yani Johanson that show a lack of understanding of the housing crisis faced by many Christchurch residents.

Cr Johanson claimed building “expensive townhouses” doesn’t increase affordability. This is a misconception. Research has shown new homes are typically purchased by people from within the surrounding area, which in turn frees up homes for others, a process known as “filtering”.

Both councillors also claimed there is an oversupply of feasible housing capacity (zoning). Christchurch does not have an oversupply of housing capacity; this is evidenced by the average Christchurch rent increasing 9% in the past 12 months, with the average rent-to-income ratio higher here (22%) than in Auckland (19%) or Wellington (18%). With the ratio of average house price to household income at an already severely unaffordable 6.6, the council should be doing everything it can to try to increase supply.

The council has already taken its time in voting not to publicly notify the original plan change in September 2022. By delaying decisions on housing intensification yet again, the council is punishing Christchurch residents struggling with the cost of housing.

Jono de Wit, Harrison McEvoy, Greater Ōtautahi

16/04/2024 - The Press - "Councillor opens up about family tragedy during safe speed vote"

"Harrison McEvoy, speaking on behalf of urbanist group Greater Ōtautahi, opposed a delay because it could take several months for the new rules to come out: “We’re looking for council to take a degree of autonomy and leadership in this,” he said."

09/04/2024 - The Press - "Church Corner decision going to council"