Speed humps decision ‘worthy of Monty Python’
Monday, 31 March 2025
Speed humps have been approved for one side of a pedestrian crossing on a busy Christchurch road, but not the other, after two separate community boards could not agree on safety features.
The result of the joint community board meeting was “worthy of Monty Python”, according to one elected member, and a display of “messy democracy” to another.
Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger is now questioning if the community boards should have been in charge of the decision at all.
It is usually a community board’s responsibility to decide on things like pedestrian crossings in residential areas.
The issue with the proposal for Deans Ave is the road’s centre line marks the boundary between two separate boards - with Waipapa Papanui-Innes-Central to the east, and Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton to the west.
Each could only vote about what happened on its half of the road.
At the meeting on Thursday both boards supported a pedestrian crossing of some kind - it would better connect Al Noor Mosque and residents to Hagley Park - but disagreed on whether speed humps should feature, as proposed by council staff.
During the meeting the Waipapa board backed the installation of humps, with deputy mayor Pauline Cotter moving a motion to support the staff recommendation during question time, locking in Waipapa as the first board to vote.
This was a fatal blow to the wishes of some on the Waipuna side and the sole detractor on Waipapa, Innes representative Ali Jones, who thought speed humps were unnecessary and wanted to refer the decision to the city council, so the project could be voted as a whole instead of two halves.
The Waipapa board - all members except Jones - approved the humps, and the board logged off the video call through which the meeting was held.
Riccarton representative Tyla Harrison-Hunt then said: “I’d like to push for an option … minus the speed humps.”
“I’ve physically witnessed a near miss of a 3-year-old girl outside the mosque, so not implementing speed bumps is quite a difficult thing for me to do.
“However, I’m here to gain consensus and I just want to get this across the line … this is better than nothing there.”
It was not immediately clear who - if any - of his colleagues would have voted for nothing rather than approve speed humps.
Halswell representative Debbie Mora suggested the board had discussed how they would vote during a break in the meeting, when members of the public were asked to leave and the meeting was no longer being recorded.
Hornby representative and city councillor Mark Peters said the situation was “really messy democracy” that he hoped would never be repeated, suggesting a future review of the board boundaries.
The Waipuna board agreed to go ahead without the humps, but agreed to keep funds aside for humps in the future if required.
Jones later described the result as being “worthy of Monty Python”. Central ward city councillor Jake McLellan, who supported the extra safety feature, said dealing with the Waipuna board “often feels like a circus” despite the “diligence” of its chairperson.
Mauger was frustrated by the outcome, saying: “It makes you wonder about delegation to boards on things like this.
“If we had everything coming to council we’d be working 5000 hours a day and get nothing done. But there are some things that might need to come and I think this is one of them.”
The design will cost about $590,000, including the money set aside for humps not installed on the west side. The Waipuna board also called for a wider review of Deans Ave.