Source: Environment Canterbury Regional Council
Council’s regular meeting took place today (Wednesday 23 October), with several key topics on the agenda.
Annual Report 2023/24 adopted
Our Annual Report covering the 2023/24 financial year was adopted at the Council meeting.
The report highlighted that we achieved 90 per cent of our levels of service, compared to 75 per cent the previous year. Similarly, 95 per cent of targets were achieved compared to 89 per cent in 2022/23.
Other highlights from the report included:
- 14.5 million passenger trips on our public transport network – up by nearly 2.9 million on 2022/23 (and the highest patronage levels since the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes)
- 3,115 labour hours spent controlling sycamore, cotoneaster, wild cherry and wilding conifers in the Rakaia Gorge
- 63 water and land projects funded by the Canterbury Water Management Strategy zone committees to implement their action plans
- 1,266 resource consent application decisions
- As of the end of 2023/24, we have resolved over 50 per cent of legacy applications and expect to clear them all by the end of 2024, meaning we can focus on new applications and processing consents more efficiently for our customers. We are now processing 70 per cent of new applications within the statutory timeframes.
In adopting the Annual Report, Chair Craig Pauling and the Councillors acknowledged the mahi (work) put in by staff, both during the year and in producing the Annual Report.
“This reflects all the work that we have done for our community over the last 12 months. It’s been a massive effort on all fronts, and to get an unmodified opinion from Audit New Zealand is a really great result.”
Representation arrangements stays with status quo
Following community feedback, the Council agreed to retain a similar representation arrangement to what is currently in place for the 2025 elections.
The status quo means two Councillors for each of the seven existing constituencies, with some minor boundary adjustments to the Christchurch City constituencies:
- Aligning the Christchurch constituency boundaries to the current city ward boundaries
- Altering the boundary of the Christchurch Central/Ōhoko constituency to exclude the Linwood Ward and include the Papanui Ward
- Altering the boundary of the Christchurch North-East/Ōrei constituency to exclude the Papanui Ward and to include the Linwood Ward.
This is a change from the initial proposal the Council consulted the community on earlier this year.
Visit our Have Your Say website for more information on the representation review.
Support for cruise ships re-introduced
Councillors have decided to allocate up to $210,000 from the public transport reserves to meet potential demand on the Metro network for the upcoming cruise ship season.
This will see the extra provision of public transport on Route 8 on eight key days during the cruise ship season to minimise disruption, particularly around school and commuter peaks.
This would provide on-street ticketing and additional capacity.
Find out more: Public transport support on its way to help customers this cruise ship season
Our Waitarakao Strategy adopted
A strategy to restore the mauri (life force) of Waitarakao Washdyke Lagoon catchment, near Timaru, has been approved by two of its four partners this week, following extensive community feedback and the recent endorsement from the project’s joint steering group.
Both Timaru District Council and we have this week approved the Our Waitarakao: Waitarakao Washdyke Lagoon Catchment Strategy at their respective Council meetings. The remaining two project partners, Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua and the Department of Conservation, will now consider approval through their processes.
Find out more about the Our Waitarakao: Waitarakao Washdyke Lagoon Catchment Strategy
