Council approves master plans for New Brighton and Edgeware

The Christchurch City Council has approved the development of master plans to support the recovery and rebuild of New Brighton and Edgeware’s suburban shopping centres. Mike Theelen, General Manager Strategy and Planning says master plans will help build investor and business confidence and will assist communities to develop a long-term vision for their centre. “Master plans will help give property and business owners and residents a ‘big picture’ or frame work that will help them understand how their ideas fit into the rebuild of the area, and identify ways to attract people back to a centre. “The master plan will provide a ‘guide’ for the community so they can set goals and prioritise what they want to work on or develop. This will, in turn, enable the Council to make decisions based on community priorities,” he says. Mayor Bob Parker says “This is exciting news for the people in these suburbs, especially New Brighton as it is the first master plan to be developed for a key shopping centre in this part of the city. It will give locals a much needed morale boost.” In June 2011, the Council approved a programme of work to support the recovery and rebuild of more than 60 earthquake-damaged suburban commercial centres across the city. The vast majority of these centres are in the case management workstream. Background information The Suburban Centres Programme features two streams of work; one stream focuses on the development of ‘master plans’ for some of the worst affected shopping centres, and the other stream involves the appointment of ‘case managers’ to other affected centres that may require assistance with planning their rebuild. The Suburban Centres Programme is well underway, with case managers assigned to earthquake-affected suburban centres and master plans being developed for six centres. The master plan programme began with Lyttelton and Sydenham, followed by the commercial areas centred around Stanmore Road/Worcester Street (Linwood Village) and the Selwyn Street shops. Master plans for Ferry Road/Main Road and Sumner Village Centre are now underway. A further six centres were identified as possible contenders for future master plans: Aranui, Beckenham, Edgeware, Linwood (Eastgate), New Brighton and Woolston. For these centres, further investigations have been undertaken to determine whether a master plan or continued case management is the most appropriate approach. Following discussion with local community boards, Edgeware and New Brighton were recommended for master plans. All affected centres are being ‘case managed’ to encourage good outcomes and provide support for landowners who may need to interact with different sections of the Council and other organisations.