Mayor Bob Parker

Welcome to my web page. I am always interested to hear from you.

As your Council puts the finishing touches on its financial report for the year, it’s timely look back on some of the highlights for Christchurch.  It is almost a year since I was elected Mayor of Christchurch and I love this job.

We are a city with a bright future, and here at the Christchurch City Council we have an outstanding team dedicated to making this city one that prospers.  As well as providing essential services like rubbish collection, water supply and sanitation, your Council is responsible for safeguarding the future of Christchurch and developing sustainable plans for rates, energy and growth that focus on enhancing quality of life for all our residents.

The Council will soon release its Annual Report for the 2007/08 year. Inside, it outlines what we’ve done for the past year, explains where your rates dollars have gone and it highlights some of the organisation’s achievements.  

Many of our successes promote a sustainable future for our city: one of the biggest projects launched over the past year was the new three wheelie bin kerbside rubbish collection service. From early next year, the council will be collecting more recycling from city homes, as well as organics from your garden and kitchen, and general rubbish. The roll-out of this new rubbish collection scheme will significantly reduce the amount of rubbish we are sending to landfill and help create a more sustainable city.

The council has talked to you in the past year about the state of our public transport. We approved the first three new bus priority routes, along Colombo Street, Papanui Road and the Queenspark route, which will now be designed and constructed. Land was also purchased in the Central City to provide an upgraded transport interchange, to replace the existing bus exchange which is operating well beyond capacity.

The Council also took a range of initiatives to boost the economic prosperity of the city: we bought the rights to host the country’s most prestigious garden event, the Ellerslie International Flower Show, which will bring thousands of visitors to the city in March next year. We also began implementing the Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy (UDS), creating a cohesive blueprint for future growth in Christchurch and surrounding districts. Major projects, such as the upgrade of the Central City’s City Mall and the plan for the development of the city’s growing South West area, fall under the banner of the UDS.

Our achievements also include cultural highlights, like the launch of the Welcome to Christchurch campaign, a partnership with Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu, CPIT, University of Canterbury, Lincoln University and the Police to help fight racial discrimination against international students.

We also signed-off a framework for the development of the city’s libraries over the next 20 years, opened Whakahoa Village, a brand new housing complex in Gowerton Place built in partnership with Housing New Zealand, and hosted a range of top sporting events like the World Bowls Tournament, World Croquet Tournament and the Oceania Swimming Championships.

As well as our annual reporting and planning processes, we’re also heading into another round of Long Term Council Community Plan process – looking at what the Council will do over the next 10 years. Our Community Plan will be available for public comment early next year, when you can have your say about what goes on in your city. I look forward to hearing your views on where we’re heading and I’m sure we’ll be able to celebrate more success as we head into 2009 and beyond.

Bob Parker
MAYOR