Christchurch mayoral candidates have shared their views on whether the city can be considered liveable.
Speaking at the Greater Hornby Residents Association meet the candidates meeting on Sunday, Sara Templeton told the audience “It’s currently not a liveable city for all. For many of us, it’s easy to get around, but for others it’s not, and people are being left behind. Many of our most vulnerable don’t have housing,” she said.
Templeton said the council needed to “focus on livability for everyone” while also planning for growth.
“It’s not just livability now, it’s livability into the future. We are growing quickly and we need to make sure that our infrastructure, transport and community facilities keep up with that, otherwise we won’t be a liveable city into the future.”
Phil Mauger told the meeting Christchurch had already made big strides. “We’re liveable, a damn sight more liveable than we were 10 or 15 years ago,” he said. “There is some talk about using trains to come into town, which I’m happy to look at if it works for Environment Canterbury. Let’s have a crack.”
On leadership, Templeton said she wanted to reinstate more committees so councillors could take a proactive role in issues such as transport, rather than simply reacting to staff reports.
“My style has always been collaborative, working with colleagues on the agenda and making sure people have the ability to input. I’d be looking at setting up committees, delegating responsibility to colleagues, and trusting them to do deep dives into the organisation.”
Mauger said he preferred all councillors to work together as one body, rather than relying heavily on committees.
“Those committees’ responses came back to council and generally the whole council would agree with them. I thought it’s better for all of the councillors to get a handle on what it is,” he said.
Templeton highlighted her record on council, pointing to the removal of library fines, work on reducing water leaks, and establishing an intergenerational climate adaptation fund.
“As mayor, I want to continue focusing on infrastructure, planning for growth, and making sure everyone has access to our city,” Templeton said. “If we don’t do something differently with our transport infrastructure, we will have 20,000 more cars on our roads in rush hour in 10 years’ time, and we will grind to a halt.”
Mauger also outlined six priorities for the city: keeping rates affordable, protecting and enhancing the environment, future proofing the water supply, delivering essential services well, completing major projects on time, and leading the council effectively.
“We’ve got to keep them (rates) affordable. It doesn’t mean cutting services. It means doing things smarter and focusing on essentials,” he said.
“Times are tough across New Zealand, but Canterbury is holding strong, and our economy is growing faster than other parts of the country. The government is talking about a rate cap. If they are talking about it, they are thinking about it, and it will come. We can’t have our head in the sand and think this is going away.”
