It’s Not Just About Cricket

The cricket ODI World Cup is under way, see the advisory issued by Transport for Chch… http://www.tfc.govt.nz/icc-cricket-world-cup-2015-game-days-dont-get-caught-out/ for people wishing to travel in the area.

Access around Hagley Park during cricket world cup

Note the car-centric bias it has. During the opening ceremony on Thursday some of the paths across North Hagley Park were closed. Nothing was mentioned about it in the advisory. Also it has been revealed there is a reluctance to promote other modes of travel to motor cars (such as using buses) in case they don’t have the capacity to cope.

Anyway, it’s not just about cricket so read on… This is really an update in regard to the 11th January CinC post It’s Not Just Infrastructure Stupid Part 1. Thank you everyone who provided feedback.

Soon after the above post, a meeting was held with officials responsible for Hagley Park events and especially the cricket world cup. The discussion was mainly about issues raised in the blog post.

The main outcome of talks was the Dean’s Ave entrance to the polo fields car park has been moved further north. This means the east – west shared path across South Hagley Park is now free of vehicles, leaving just one path along Deans Ave affected. While not perfect, the compromise is definitely an improvement.

And the aim remains – that the Right of Way within Hagley Park stays with the existing users of the permanent paths – people walking and cycling. When Ellerslie Flower Show was dropped it was thought the inconvenience of making substantial detours around fences when travelling within the park boundaries would also end. Clearly not.

This change is fundamental to changing travel culture in Christchurch.

If Hagley Park is going to be used as a giant car park on a regular basis with no encouragement of other travel modes then we need to see something similar to the one in the photo below where motor vehicles must give way. It was taken at a recent event in North Hagley Park near the Armagh St Gates. It shows CCC Events have the signage and ability, so we must be near to implementing it.

hagleysign
Give way to pedestrians and cyclists.

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Hagley Oval Resource Consent.

More information came to light after the above mentioned meeting. It has been revealed that the Environment Court issued 92 conditions for Canterbury Cricket to obtain RMA resource consent. CCC as the regulatory body are required to make sure these conditions are met.

The Environment Court consent and conditions are found here…. http://resources.ccc.govt.nz/files/Homeliving/buildingplanning/resourceconsents/FinalDecision.pdf

It has been alleged Canterbury Cricket have breached some of the conditions but CCC are not enforcing compliance. If it is true this has the hallmarks of the building consents accreditation fiasco in 2013.

Conditions 71 and 72 are worth noting but I’ve been unable to find the Temporary Traffic Management Plan and the request for such from CCC Events has so far been ignored.

The Hagley Oval Access Management Strategy dated 29th November 2013 is found here… http://www.canterburycricket.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/THE-ACCESS-MANAGEMENT-STRATEGY.pdf

Condition 73 requires Canterbury Cricket to monitor and consult affected parties. But surprise, walking and cycling groups are not included in the list.

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Please Report

Regardless, please report if any routes for people walking and cycling across Hagley Park are blocked by official staff and/or fences during games. Also report temporary traffic management signs that are placed in cycle lanes on nearby roads. This is illegal and unsafe.

If possible take photos and note time and day. There has been too many reports of such recently. We’re back to the levels last seen 2 years ago.

40401
Blocked cycle lane

This cycle of failure needs to end. We’ll know when it does, people on bikes will be treated to the same level of respect as those in cars.

4 thoughts on “It’s Not Just About Cricket”

  1. Thanks for a great piece on this very troubling issue. It is hard to know if it is CCC staff culture to neglect the input and needs of people who walk and cycle or their kowtowing to higher ups who only view the world through a windshield. Either way the park becomes a parking lot, the roads blocked by avoidable congestion and people on bicycle and foot expected to make long detours without notice.

    When will it change? When enough people call and write the Mayor, Councillors, and Community Board members to complain, regularly. Time for strongly pro walking and cycling candidates, too.

  2. The signs blocking the cycle ways are an all too frequent occurrence unfortunately. Recently some signs went up blocking the cycleways outside the north aspect of the UoC. Thankfully last week it appears. That they have been moved onto the grass berm, it’s amazing the lack of foresight the people deploying these signs must have for cyclists.

    On an aside, this week while returning home from work I witnessed two cars turning left from Kahu road onto Straven road from inside the new separated cycle lane at the intersection. These two cars managed to squeeze into the cycle lane between the lane separators and were completely blocking the new green cycle lane. What on earth can we do when there’s people like that driving! It’s moments like that when you just have to despair…

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