New jumping platform for Lake Hood, Canterbury
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
People will soon be jumping at the chance to dive into Lake Hood in Canterbury.
A jumping platform is under construction at the lake south of Ashburton and will be finished by the end of March.
Council people and facilities group manager Sarah Mosley said the jumping platform will be a unique recreational feature at the lake.
“It should attract those who previously enjoyed jumping from the canal bridges, as jumping from the bridges is not safe because watercraft passing under them create a hazard.”
An algal bloom warning is in place at Lake Hood, but the platform is being built at the northern side of the lake extension, which is currently a separate body of water.
It will eventually be connected to the lake extension, as it expands through future development, Mosley said.
“To allow for a 4m jumping platform, we needed a 4m purpose dug hole to enable safe jumping as nowhere in the existing lake is more than 3m deep.
“The jumping platform will be able to be used by the community at any time.
“Basic water rescue safety equipment will also be provided, but the onus is on users to be confident swimmers as it is not a supervised swimming location.”
The jump platform is part of $200,000 recreational water facilities improvement projects, which are being funded from the $4.19m the Ashburton District Council received from the Government’s Three Waters Reform Better Off Funding in 2023.
At EA Networks Centre, $15,200 is being spent on a water wheelchair and pool inflatables, an inflatable obstacle course in the Learn to Swim pool, and an inflatable tower slide for the main pool.
Funding has also been distributed to the community pools for changing rooms and water treatment equipment.
The Hinds Pool ($48,200) had alternations to Plunket rooms to become changing rooms, and new changing rooms were approved at the Rakaia Pool ($39,500).
For the Tinwald Pool, $36,100 was spent on surveying, concepts and design work for a potential rebuild.
The Hinds Pool also received new pumps and a new chlorinator ($19,500).
New chlorinators at Mayfield ($3,300) and Rakaia ($2,400), and chemicals for pool water quality at both Mt Somers ($400) and Ruapuna ($400) were also funded.
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Ashburton’s second bridge cost bumped up
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
The cost to build Ashburton’s second bridge has leapt to $130 million as questions remain on how it will be funded.
The council has kept its contribution at $7.5m, despite the estimated price jumping by 15% in two years.
Ashburton Council chief executive Hamish Riach provided councillors with an update on the second bridge after he recently met with Minister of Transport Simeon Brown.
The Government has made the bridge, a key State Highway 1 route in Canterbury, a national transport priority.
Minister Brown made it clear that the council would need to look for funding in the National Land Transport programme process, Riach said.
That will start with conversations between the council and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi around “innovative funding mechanisms”.
After meeting, Riach and Mayor Neil Brown reached out to NZTA regional relationships director James Caygill about “actively getting on with those conversations with their funding people”.
The National Land Transport programme is an investment package for priority transport projects.
For a project to be included in the National Land Transport Programme it has to feature in a council’s long-term plan, Riach said.
The council has chosen to keep the $7.5m figure in its budget planning, even though the cost of the project has increased.
The business case prepared in 2022 estimated the project – a 360m-long bridge across the Ashburton/Hakatere River and new road infrastructure - would cost $113m.
An NZTA document prepared in November estimated the project will cost between $100-$200m.
A recent report from Infometrics, commissioned by Local Government New Zealand, found that over the last three years, costs have gone up significantly and bridges are 38% more expensive to build.
“We note the bridge is programmed to cost $130m and our share, at $7.5m, may or may not survive the whole funding process.
“A lot is going on in this space that is incredibly uncertain.”
The council will adopt its LTP in June – including the $7.5m figure – before knowing what the NLTP entails, Riach said.
“It makes for a messy picture for this project in our formal plans and budgets.”
The minister acknowledged the need for the bridge - easing congestion and improving safety on SH1 - and as a result, the subsidy rate “needed to reflect the improvement to the state highway network”, Riach said.
“We took from that, that a subsidy rate ahead of our normal FAR (funding assistance rate) was entirely justified.”
Rather than a 51% FAR subsidy the business case suggested a 62%, but the question remains how to fill the gap between 62% and 100%, Riach said.
Mayor Brown said the minister also spoke of the Government looking at different ways of funding roading going forward.
This included the possibility of road tolls, Riach said.
“He reiterated that it is certainly his intention to review the way in which tolling is a mechanism for funding projects a little bit later in the year.”
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No tolls without law change
Under legislation, tolls can only be placed on state highways, not on a local road, which is what the second bridge is considered to be.
It also prevents an NZTA toll from raising funds for a council project – so a toll on the existing SH1 bridge couldn’t be used to fund the new local road bridge.
A legislative change could see the possibility of introducing a toll on the existing SH1 Ashburton/Hakatere Bridge or on the second bridge to pay for the project.
There are currently only three toll roads in New Zealand – the Northern Gateway Toll Road north of Auckland, the Tauranga Eastern Link Toll Road, and the Takitimu Drive Toll Road, both in Tauranga.
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