The Lyttelton Mt Herbert Community Board held a Public Forum Meeting on Monday evening to discuss Lyttelton’s recovery, and in particular, the Lyttelton Draft Master Plan that the Christchurch City Council has been developing.  Representatives from the Lyttelton Mt Herbert Community Board were in attendance to listen to the views of Lyttelton residents, and it was noted that Councillor Claudia Reid was absent from this pivotal community meeting.

A crowd exceeding 100 people attended, but unfortunately many residents were turned away because of a lack of capacity within the Trinity Hall.  Those who attended unanimously supported the motion to reject the Draft Master Plan, and further, to prevent it from being presented to the Christchurch City Council next week on Thursday 27^th October.  Residents strongly vocalised that the Draft Master Plan had failed to capture the spirit of public opinion on items clearly  identified in the Community Board Recovery Plan, developed prior to the instigation of the Council sponsored Lyttelton Draft Master Plan.

Several residents expressed concern that if the Lyttelton Draft Master Plan is supported in its current form, that we would be locked into outcomes that would be detrimental to Lyttelton’s future development.  In response, the Lyttelton Mt Herbert Community Board could not confirm that this would not be the case.  In particular residents were concerned that there is a lack of overall vision for the township and specifically no longer term vision for taking heavy vehicles off Norwich Quay or linking the township to the inner harbour.  There was also a significant degree of concern about the consultation process, and how the community has not been given a proper participatory role in the process.

The meeting concluded that time is of the essence, and residents need to take immediate action.  The Community Board was unanimously asked by the crowd not to support the Master Plan going forward.  Residents made it very clear that the only activity they wanted to happen immediately was to resolve regulatory issues in the existing District Plan so that operating and re-opening local businesses could be made easier.

Residents and community groups need to know that an alternative process is running parallel to the Lyttelton Draft Master Plan.  CERA has produced a Draft Recovery Strategy for the Christchurch area and submissions are due by October 30^th.  This alternative process gives our community an opportunity to create the type of Recovery Plan that residents want.  This is a community led recovery, with the view to working in partnership with the Community Board.  We are fortunate to have many highly skilled people within our community who will enable Lyttelton to move forward in a more positive direction.

We are encouraging all community groups and residents to respond to the CERA Strategy. If you don’t have time to write your own submission but agree with what residents at the meeting thought, you will be able to download a template submission from this web site, from this Friday.

If you couldn’t make it to the meeting on Monday night, or want to express further views on this topic, please contact your local council representatives:

Banks Peninsula Councillor - Claudia Reid

Phone:  027 457 0603      Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Community Board Chairperson – Paula Smith

Phone:  027 241 3772      Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it