Bridge, Bollards, And Big Decisions: Ashburton Council’s Year In Review

Sunday, 12 January 2025, 6:36 pm
Article: Jonathan Leask - Local Democracy Reporter

Signing off the long-term plan was the big piece of work for the Ashburton District Council in 2024, but the biggest news for the district landed late in December.

The Government announced it would fully fund the second bridge and the council would fund the associated connecting roads, with construction to begin in 2026.

Mayor Neil Brown said he understood the project would not include a toll road.

Now the big question is whether the council’s $7.5m budgeted for the project is enough to cover their part, which will likely be a big talking point in next year’s annual plan.

Those conversations will take place in Hine Paaka, the new council chambers in the heart of Te Whare Whakatere – Ashburton’s new library and civic centre which made its delayed opening in January.

The final construction cost came in at $62.3m, announced two weeks after holding an official opening ceremony in October.

During the year the old library sold for $1.1m to a local developer, two relocatable buildings were sold for $160,000, and the old council administration was sold – with the details to be released upon settlement in January.

The proceeds of those sales coupled with the $20m of government shovel-ready funding, reduced the final cost to ratepayers to around $40m.

Another big opening was the Ng King Brothers Chinese Market Garden Settlement Heritage Park in Ashburton.

The project had spanned 16 years to restore the remnant buildings at the centre of the 2.3-hectare site, with over 200 descendants of the original families gathering in February for the official opening.

The next big opening was the Fairton Freight Hub in March.

The $18m development led by the Wareing Group, with a $2.5m contribution from the government and $2.3m from the council, shifted the shunting yards from the centre of Ashburton with the aim of streamlining freight volumes in and out of Mid Canterbury and reduce the impact of trucks on roads.

Big decisions were made in May, with councillors putting together the 2024-34 long-term plan which included some contentious choices.

The simplest decision was to introduce green waste collection in September 2026.

The other big calls weren’t so simple.

The council decided to exit stock water delivery by the end of June 2027 and signed off on the exit strategy plan in December.

There was $3m on offer to either repair the Tinwald Pool, build a new pool or hydroslides at EA Networks, or upgrade the domain paddling pool. The council opted not to proceed with any of the options.

The Balmoral Hall was spared from the chopping block, for at least two years, and the former Polytech site next door will become an unsealed car park in 2025 for around $1.6m.

Rounding out the big-five decisions was a three-court EA Networks stadium extension. The estimated $23.7m project has been earmarked for 7-9 in the 10-year plan so will go through another long-term plan process.

The planning landed with a rate increase of 11.8% for 2024/25 and signalled a 10.8% rise in 2025/26.

On the roads, big changes came in Rakaia, with the speed limit reduced from 70kph to 50kph through the township, while Methven also got a long-awaited speed reduction on the stretch of SH77 at the north end of town from 100kph to 60kph.

The permanent 30kph school speed zones were in place all year but, with a legislation change, the council was waiting for permission to change them to time-restricted on school days in December.

That permission didn’t come but it's expected they will be changed before the start of the new school year.

What to do with Lake Camp was another area of contention.

The community was calling for the historic Balmacaan Stream diversion, which had been out of action since 2020, to be reinstated as they watched the lake level plummet.

The council decided not to proceed with a consent application to restore it as it could have cost ratepayers almost $1 million, with no guarantee of success.

On the other side of the district, the Hakatere Huts community fought the council over the installation of bollards at the Upper Hakatere Reserve.

Residents of the seaside settlement wanted them removed and camping reinstated.

The council adopted a motion in June to move some of the bollards but had to apologise and rescind the decision after it was revealed there had been no consensus reached by the working group.

Eventually, the working group reached the compromise to remove 31 of the bollards in August and the situation will be monitored over the summer to see if they stay removed.

Three waters reforms have continued to be a discussion topic and will continue to be next year.

The new Government repealed the previous reforms in February and introduced its reforms- Water Done Well.

The council has to prepare a Water Services Delivery Plan by September which will outline how it intends to provide and fund three water services in the future.

The council has three local options on the table, including an in-house model, a single-Council CCO model or a single-Council CCO with an existing local Board-governed entity – which would be EA Networks.

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