Kaiapoi Promotion Association Inc. PO Box 130 Kaiapoi

12 April 2021

Submission to Waimakariri District Council 2021 Long Term Plan

The Kaiapoi Promotion Association Inc (KPA) welcomes the opportunity to make this submission to the 2021 Long Term Plan.

A Cycleway Development

The KPA strongly supports of the proposal to provide $250,000 in the Recreation budget towards the construction of a recreational cycle route from the north end of the Waimakariri River bridge to central Kaiapoi utilising the existing Ecan stopbanks.

This proposal to include the project in the 2020/21 Annual Plan was supported by the council following the consideration of presentations from KPA and ENC at its meeting on 1 October 2019. At that meeting ENC highlighted that this recreational route is a key component of a wider recreational cycle route extending into North Canterbury. The KPA was very disappointed that the Council did not proceed with this project in the 2020/21 year.

The Council has spent a lot of money developing the central Kaiapoi area and it is imperative that the cycleways are located in places that makes access to central Kaiapoi simple and safe for visitors. While the Council has completed a commuter route to link the CNC cycle route to the Kaiapoi to Rangiora route, this route will not appeal to visitors and recreational walkers and cyclists.

The recent Kaiapoi Brand workshop concluded that walking and cycling is a key attraction for visitors to Kaiapoi, and that the residents of North Christchurch are the primary target market for visitors. As the country emerges from the current lockdown it is clear that domestic visitors to Kaiapoi will be key to ensuring that a wide range of businesses in the Kaiapoi area survive.

The CNC project has already made provision for this key visitor link in the design of its Wheels to Waipara project, and completing this first stage would be critical to see the whole project advance.

In addition, Ecan is very supportive of the project, as it is complimentary to its existing recreational cycle trails, and has offered to complete some works to facilitate the project. Ecan has already made changes to the stopbank access gates to facilitate this route.

The KPA also supports the proposed budgets for increased levels of service for cycleways in the Roading and Footpath budget, as there are many missing sections in the Walking and Cycling network.

Martyn Cook Business Manager Kaiapoi Promotions Association Inc