Final chance to comment on plans for red zone

The public is being given a final chance to comment on plans for regenerating the red zoned land along the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor.

Regenerate Christchurch plans to publicly notify the draft Regeneration Plan for the area on Wednesday 14 November and invite people to submit comments by 19 December. It is the last public engagement required under the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Act ahead of the plan being finalised.

The Green Spine will stretch 11km from the central city to New Brighton.

A key feature of the draft Regeneration Plan is the 11-kilometre long  ‘Green Spine’.  The Green Spine will be up to 150-metres wide on each side of the Ōtākaro Avon River and connect the city to New Brighton.

It will incorporate walking paths, nature trails, cycleways, community spaces such as playgrounds, picnic spots, barbeque areas, coffee stops, large areas of ecological restoration and wetlands to improve stormwater.

“We appreciate that the end of the year is a busy time and we want community groups and organisations that might be interested in providing comment to know this is coming up so they are organised when the draft plan is notified,’’ says Regenerate Christchurch Chief Executive Ivan Iafeta.

From 14 November, the draft Regeneration Plan will be available on the Regenerate Christchurch website and hard copies will be available for reading at Regenerate Christchurch (Level 1, Building 2, 181 High Street, Christchurch), as well as Waimakariri District Council, Selwyn District Council and Christchurch City Council offices, service centres and libraries. The public will be able to provide written comment online and via email or post.

At the same time, Regenerate Christchurch will invite written comment on proposals to exclude the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor regeneration area from the Land Use Recovery Plan and the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan through a partial revocation process.

Mr Iafeta says once written comments have been received, Regenerate Christchurch will consider those and finalise the Regeneration Plan before seeking consent from Ōtākaro Limited to submit it to the Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration.