Is Ashburton Boring? Teenagers Take On Mayor And Council

Sunday, 29 December 2024, 5:47 am
Article: RNZ

Adam Burns, Reporter
28 December 2024

Several Ashburton teenagers are echoing views that there is not enough to do in the Mid Canterbury town, concurring that the town is "boring".

But a local councillor has rubbished the sentiments, arguing that some young people needed a mindset adjustment.

Earlier in the year a group of school pupils suggested that there was nothing to do for young people in Ashburton, during a Youth Forum presentation to the mayor and councillors.

Community leaders later came to the defence of the town, proposing the youngsters of the community "get off the couch and get amongst it".

RNZ spoke to more than a dozen teenagers in Ashburton, with most agreeing that it was dull and offered little for young people.

Seventeen-year-old Ava* said the town lacked some key drawcards for "the young crowd".

"We don't have any malls or anything.

"We only have one field and that's the [Ashburton Domain], other than the Tinwald one.

"If you're a teenager you don't really want to go and hang out at the Domain...you can only go there so many times before you're bored."

Bridget Hyde (17) said claims the town was boring was a commonly held view among young people in the town.

"If you don't have a lot of money then there's not much to do," she said.

When canvassing the views of the town's youth, a group of boys were spotted along State Highway 1, near the Ashburton Bridge, appealing to truck drivers to honk their horns as a means to pass time.

One of the pair, Bailey Gregge (16) described the pastime as "truckspotting".

"You just get your phone out and see if they give you a honk or a light show," he said.

"It can be (boring) in Ashburton.

"There is a couple of things but after a wee while it gets boring...I feel like they need to do more stuff for kids out here."

Bailey said he tried to spend as much time working as a farmhand and admitted that young people had also become "very lazy".

"This generation is very shit," he said.

"Kids need to get off their asses and start doing stuff, instead of going out drinking and doing drugs and that."

Although there were grumbles about the town among those in their late teens, younger residents were more buoyant.

Liam Robertson (14) said there was plenty to do, although the skatepark was in need of a makeover.

"You've got the library, skatepark and plenty of fun stuff to do around town after school and in the weekends."

Thirteen-year-olds Priscilla Cavalloti and Izzy Connelly also said there was plenty to keep them entertained, including the Ashburton Domain and the Library.

Suggestions town is boring "hard to swallow"

Ashburton ward councillor Phill Hooper has challenged suggestions that it is a boring town, proposing more youngsters needed to get active.

He said there had been a major drop off in youth sport in the Mid Canterbury region.

"I really find it hard to swallow to be honest," he said.

"More kids should be playing sport and more youth should be joining clubs.

"I wish we had a bike track, like the river mountainbike track when I was a kid, I would've loved that."

Aside from offering a range of biking trails, the region offered proximity to Mount Hutt skifield, a museum, a library and civic centre - boasting a new recording studio, Hooper said.

"I think there's not too much more we could have.

"It would be really nice to have a bowling alley here, it'd be nice to have your Time Out's, but that's private enterprise sort of stuff.

"There's probably a very good reason they're not here already, we don't have the population for those sorts of things."

When asked if he believed young people in the town were lazy, he said it was more about a "mindset change".

On 18 December, the Ashburton District Council adopted a 30-year masterplan for the town's EA Networks Centre sport complex, outlining future development at the site.

Projects floated include a vehicle entrance widening, solar investigations for a 1-hectare solar farm, a mini golf course, a sand court, and a three-court stadium extension.

In reaction to the plan, Sport Canterbury's Mid Canterbury community advisor Alice Breading told Local Democracy Reporting it often heard community feedback that youth and young families needed more "affordable activities and things to do".

"The proposed development of the sports hub bridges the gap to meet that need," she said.

As of June, Ashburton's population sat at 21,700.

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