Developers fume at council’s final stadium streets design

Thursday, 29 June 2023

A central Christchurch street adjacent to the city’s new stadium will remain two-way, but the speed limit will be reduced to 10kph.

Christchurch City Council on Wednesday approved a $34.2 million project to upgrade the streets and underground pipes surrounding Te Kaha.

The work, which covers Lichfield, Madras, Tuam and Barbadoes streets, will involve widening footpaths to up to 5.8 metres and slowing speeds to 10kph or 30kph.

The changes are designed to ensure the area copes with the expected influx of pedestrians and traffic on event days.

An original plan to make Lichfield St, between Manchester and Madras, one-way did not survive a council hearings process after prominent city developers Philip Carter and Shaun Stockman threatened to delay projects and stop investing in the city if it went ahead.

The hearings panel, of five councillors, recommended another option, which was $1.2m more expensive, but kept the section of Lichfield St open to two-way traffic while reducing the speed to 10kph.

Panel chairperson Melanie Coker said the panel had listened to the public and made changes. She believed the option provided the best of both worlds, but Stockman and Carter disagreed.

Carter said the decision was extremely disappointing and he was most concerned the council did not listen to feedback from the business community.

He said the chosen option did not support a business-friendly and accessible city.

Carter believed a 10kph speed limit on parts of Lichfield St would further choke the CBD and make it harder for people to get around.

“It would appear that some councillors are intent on driving investment away from Christchurch, and that will be their legacy.”

Stockman said the council and councillors were “completely disconnected from reality”.

“It’s a very unbalanced outcome, again.”

At the meeting, mayor Phil Mauger, who has never been in favour the work, made a last ditch attempt to get the Lichfield St work delayed until after the stadium was built.

His proposal failed to garner enough support, with just three councillors supporting him - Aaron Keown, Yani Johanson and Sam MacDonald.

Mauger said he wanted to avoid the council redesigning a road that was already in “very good shape”. He and Keown believed the biggest influx of visitors to Te Kaha would come via Cashel St, not Lichfield.

However, council staff insisted they would come via Lichfield because there were three car parking buildings and the bus interchange on the street.

Mauger said business owners in the area had told him they did not want the street done yet.

But Coker said the panel did not hear from any local businesses who wanted to delay the project.

Cr Tyrone Fields, who was also on the panel, said there was an overwhelming volume of submissions supporting the upgrade of Lichfield St.

“Phil, with the greatest of respect, I’m struggling to see why a person who made his name on ‘let’s get stuff done’ is now saying ‘let’s get stuff delayed’,” he told the mayor.

Fields said the work had to be done otherwise the city would become a “laughing stock”.

Cr Victoria Henstock said while she had sympathy for Mauger’s amendment and did not like the 10kph limit, she recognised the need to activate the spaces around the stadium.

Cr Sara Templeton said people told the panel they did not want the council to dig up the street twice, which would happen if the work was delayed because pipes would need upgrading for the stadium.

She said businesses in other parts of the city, which were already benefiting from the council’s investment in surrounding streetscapes, were concerned their share of the pie would be dented.

But she said Te Kaha and the residential development in the area would help grow the pie.

Councillors Johanson and Keown voted against the plan.