Insanity of Cranford Street Decision

The Christchurch City Council has voted to make a bus lane on Cranford Street, permanent.

The vote was close with 8 voting against and 9 voting for the bus lane.

Innes board member, Ali Jones, says the decision has ignored the majority of submitters, local knowledge and expert advice.

“Thank you to those who listened to everyone who took the time to submit but I am hearing from residents I meet in my community that they are less likely to engage with the council on consultations if decisions like this clearly go against the majority view and expert advice,” says Jones.

She adds that the majority view wanting a peak hour clearway was supported by expert roading opinion which those who submitted had access to.

“To dismiss the views of those who wanted a clearway (as local councillor Pauline Cotter did at a recent board meeting), is pretty poor. I agree with Ms Cotter that a consultation is not a vote and no one is saying that. The preferred position of a clearway, wanted by the majority of submitters, was also the staff recommendation and supported by roading engineers. Sadly our board has been deaf to this, and one councillor I spoke to after the vote today didn’t seem to have considered the material as they were happy to support the board, regardless,” says Jones.

There were 632 submissions on the Cranford consultation, the majority wanting a clearway on Cranford Street. The staff advice and expert reports made clear that there would be reduced congestion on Cranford Street with a clearway however this would last only 3-5 years. Jones says there was an opportunity to have reduced congestion, a better flow of traffic, less emissions and put measures in place to address the increasing traffic in the 3-5 year window. She says it could have been a ‘win-win’.

“We all want our community to be safe, to be able to move around as easily as possible and reduce emissions as much as possible. A bus lane, as reports and evidence show, has not achieved this on Cranford Street and will not magically start doing that once it is made permanent,” says Jones. “This is insane – we are doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.”

Jones also continues to be really concerned about the safety of our children with a two primary Schools nearby.

“Andrea Harnett, the principal of St Albans Primary School asked at the community board meeting a couple of weeks ago, what price do we put on the life of a child? I wonder if the councillors who voted against the vehicle clearway today gave that a thought?” she says.