My May 2025 newsletter covers my Papanui Council campaign announcement, as well as latest news from our Community Board and a few updates from me.
If you’d like to follow my campaign for Council or otherwise stay in touch with what’s happening locally and for me personally, click through to read more. You can also subscribe to receive future editions by email and in the Substack app: simonbritten.substack.com
This week Council staff provided our Community Board with a memo to brief us on the Rolleston Avenue and Park Terrace facilities as a result of the Canterbury Museum redevelopment. There’s ongoing strong pubilc interest in this, especially in relation to the Park Terrace section of cycleway.
The information in this memo is not confidential and can be made public, so to serve public interest I’m sharing the full memo here.
Continue reading “Full copy: June 2023 Rolleston Avenue & Park Terrace Cycleway memo to the Waipapa Community Board”At their 28 February meeting, Christchurch City Councillors voted in favour of staff recommendations to:
Councillors also approved a citywide cap of 1,600 e-scooters, and delegated to staff the authority to amend the citywide cap, and also the cap that may be applied to an individual permit.
Papanui Councillor Mike Davidson proposed a lower cap for Lime of half the citywide cap. He argued that competition could be stifled by allowing first-mover Lime too much market share, but this amendment was not carried. Continue reading “Limewatch: A vote of confidence by Christchurch City Council”
The Council Service Centre in Papanui now provides postal services, following NZ Post’s closure of their branch on Main North Road. Last year the Langdons Quarter expansion at Northlands opened, along with new office and retail developments further up Langdons Road. Feedback on these changes has been overwhelmingly positive on Think Papanui, but an unintended consequence is the impact on pedestrian and vehicle movements at the busy Restell St / Langdons Rd / Sisson Dr intersection – an area with narrow footpaths, limited sightlines, and adjacent school, mall, and other commercial activity. Crossing the road at this intersection can be dicey for pedestrians, and of course the risk increases for children or those with limited sight or mobility.
An increase in pedestrian and vehicle movements raises another issue – is this just a space to pass through, or does it need to accommodate other needs? As a mixing space between all the different activities in the area, if there was a pedestrian-friendly open space this could be Papanui’s ‘town square’. Unfortunately there is no such open space, and in recent years the experience of some users hasn’t always been positive. Continue reading “Opinion: urban design in the Papanui area”
Happy New Year! Here’s a look back at some of the news and events covered by Think Papanui during 2018:
Simon Britten 