Submission
9 year plan feedback
Should we remove 231 Stuart Street (formerly the Fortune Theatre) from the list of strategic assets in the DCC Significance and Engagement policy?
Do you have any comments about 231 Stuart Street?
Should we charge an entry fee of $20 (incl. GST) for international visitors aged 16 and over, at Toitū and Dunedin Public Art Gallery?
Do you have any comments about the entry fee for international visitors?
Is there anything else you would like to tell us?
Submission: Unfinished sections of Te Awa Ōtākou, priority, Portobello to Weir Road.
This section of Te Awa Ōtākou is critically important to the Portobello School Board as it is the only access to our school. Portobello is the only peninsula school situated directly on the main road. Mere metres separate our car park users (from babies through to grandparents), and traffic, which regularly consists of large buses, trucks, campervans, and cyclists. Our carpark is used as a ‘pull off’ for vehicles allowing others to pass even during our busy drop off/pickup times. Having this section completed would allow a greater number of tamariki to walk or cycle to school, and reduce pressure on the car park.
Portobello School participates in Move it March every year. To do so, staff must arrange a safe drop off point at the Coronation Hall. They must supervise tamariki to enable safe participation due to the lack of footpaths and safe crossing points near the school. Improvements to the Cemetery Road have greatly improved access and safety to a point, however this still remains a steep, single-lane road shared by walkers, cyclists, and vehicles, used heavily at drop off/pickup.
The school boundary is approached blindly from both directions. Sunstrike coupled with narrow lanes through the cutting (below Cemetery Road) are an added hazard at this time of year. It is extremely narrow; barely two lanes when buses, trucks, and campervans pass through. There is no footpath; walkers regularly walk on the road itself. The approach is uphill, and a natural ‘speed up’ spot for motorists leaving the village. Road users approaching from the Harwood side do so around a narrow, blind corner and is another natural ‘speed up’ spot with no footpath or alternate route from this direction. Vehicles cross the centre line to round walkers and cyclists here, and there are near misses on a daily basis.
Impacts since last submission include: increased traffic (a greater number of tourist buses and campervans means an increase in drivers unfamiliar with the road); our school’s private car park continues to be utilised by road workers, linesmen, etc. due to it being on the main road (it is assumed to be public); increased use of the school car park on Harington Point Road with Portobello Kindergarten now next door (due to the lack of adequate parking at the top of Cemetery Road, the school offers shared use of our small staff car park and lower carpark with the kindergarten).
The sections completed to date have vastly improved access for getting tamariki most of the way to school safely. They are constantly in use by a large number and variety of people including cyclists and walkers both from the area, and those coming specifically to access these sections, and it looks fantastic. The school has used the Portobello to Broad Bay section for a variety of purposes. How exciting would it be for the school to be able to make trips to Te Raoune (where we participate in conservation action), and to visit our historical and natural sites on foot or by bike! Finishing Te Awa Ōtākou would enable this. At this point, it’s just a ‘hold-tight and drive through’ road, hoping you won’t meet something big coming the other way.
The school has acted in good faith, engaging with the DCC, engineers etc, to discuss options and cost-effective ideas. We don’t need the improvements to be flash, we need them to be fit for purpose. The delay in action on this vital section continues to put the safety of all road users, including our tamariki, whānau, and staff at risk daily. We are proud to live here, and we would love to be able to showcase the school section as an asset to the school and community. It’s so close, yet so far!
The Board sincerely thanks the DCC for work completed to date, including the much-needed upgrade to the Cemetery Road (we use it every day). The improvement in safety, accessibility, and visual impact of the finished sections is fantastic. We just need the three vital sections, most importantly Portobello to Weir Road, to be completed to put safety first, and our minds at rest. We respectfully request that the DCC prioritises action on the Portobello to Weir Rd section, and keeps the promise made to our community: that Te Awa Ōtākou be completed as a priority (years 2,3,4).
Local Water Done Well feedback
Which water services delivery model do you support?
Why did you choose this option?
Do you have any other feedback related to the proposed water services delivery models?
Supporting information
No associated documents with this submission.
Submitter
Submission id number: 1132135
Submitter name:
Emily Larkins
Organisation
Presiding Member, Portobello School Board