Bay Harbour: August 16, 2017

PAGE 4 BAY HARBOUR<br />

Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />

Wednesday <strong>August</strong> <strong>16</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />

ews<br />

Refurbished<br />

Sumner School<br />

block to open<br />

• By Sarla Donovan<br />

A NEW open-plan classroom<br />

block will open at Sumner School<br />

on Monday.<br />

The refurbishment of the<br />

school’s ‘Canterbury Block’ is part<br />

of the Ministry of Education’s<br />

Christchurch Education Renewal<br />

programme.<br />

Formerly housing five<br />

traditional classrooms, the block<br />

has been modernised and brought<br />

up to the ministry’s guidelines<br />

for modern learning spaces. It<br />

has a new layout to allow for<br />

collaborative learning in flexible<br />

spaces.<br />

It will be used initially by year 7<br />

and 8 pupils.<br />

This is the first major project in<br />

Sumner School’s wider building<br />

programme.<br />

Said principal Stuart Cameron:<br />

“We are currently at the<br />

preliminary design phase of our<br />

master plan. This will see around<br />

$4 million being spent on the<br />

school buildings over a two to<br />

three year period.”<br />

There had been student<br />

involvement right throughout the<br />

renovation of the new block.<br />

Port Hills MP Ruth Dyson will<br />

officially open the new classroom<br />

block on Monday at 9am.<br />

Speed sign lobbying comes up trumps<br />

• From page 1<br />

City council manager transport<br />

operations Aaron Haymes said<br />

this will be included in the wider<br />

speed limit change proposals for<br />

Banks Peninsula, expected to be<br />

out for public consultation by the<br />

end of the year.<br />

Banks Peninsula Community<br />

Board chairwoman Christine<br />

Wilson welcomed the news.<br />

“Anything that’s going to help<br />

keep speeds down is going to be<br />

positive,” she said.<br />

The end of year consultation<br />

• By Sarla Donovan<br />

A LITTLE River group wants<br />

to keep a sign asking drivers<br />

to slow down – but the New<br />

Zealand Transport Agency say<br />

it needs to go.<br />

The sign was paid for by<br />

community group Love Little<br />

River as part of its campaign to<br />

make the township’s main road<br />

safer.<br />

Now the speed limit will<br />

be lowered from 70km/h to<br />

60km/h, it’s time it went, said<br />

NZTA senior traffic and safety<br />

engineer David Scarlett.<br />

on speed changes “wasn’t that<br />

far away.”<br />

It’s expected to cost around<br />

$2000 for the signage.<br />

The changes come after the<br />

working group presented a<br />

deputation to the community<br />

“We had an agreement with<br />

the Love Little River group<br />

that the sign would be removed<br />

once we came to the end of the<br />

speed limit review. Now the<br />

speed limit will be changing on<br />

<strong>August</strong> 25, as part of that, we’d<br />

like that sign removed. We<br />

don’t normally allow that sort<br />

of signage on the highway.”<br />

Mr Scarlett said the sign<br />

wasn’t legal. NZTA had let it<br />

remain as a gesture of good<br />

faith.<br />

“We wanted to let the<br />

community know that we’re<br />

working with them to resolve<br />

board earlier this year.<br />

In June, <strong>Bay</strong> <strong>Harbour</strong> News<br />

reported that an out-of-control<br />

car had spun off Dyers Pass Rd<br />

and hit trees on Terry White’s<br />

(left) Dyers Rd property,<br />

landing close to his daughters’<br />

bedrooms.<br />

Mr Haymes told <strong>Bay</strong> <strong>Harbour</strong><br />

News the work is planned to<br />

be completed by the end of<br />

September.<br />

There were no plans for<br />

other settlements in the Banks<br />

Peninsula Ward to have<br />

the issue of the speed limit.<br />

Our normal policy is that only<br />

additional speed limit signage<br />

and markings.<br />

Meanwhile, speed limits on<br />

the approaches to the 50km/h<br />

area of the settlement are being<br />

reviewed.<br />

“They will be included in<br />

the wider speed limit change<br />

proposals for Banks Peninsula,<br />

envisaged to be out for public<br />

consultation by the end of the<br />

year,” Mr Haymes said.<br />

Residents are keen to see<br />

entry speeds into Governors <strong>Bay</strong><br />

lowered, from 100km to 70km.<br />

Little River group wants sign to stay<br />

official signs be in the highway<br />

reserve.”<br />

He hoped the group would<br />

remove the sign by <strong>August</strong><br />

25. Taking it down as a legal<br />

measure would be a “last port<br />

of call,” Mr Scarlett said.<br />

Love Little River want the<br />

sign to stay until the limit is<br />

dropped to 50km, “as was the<br />

community’s wish.”<br />

•HAVE YOUR SAY: Should<br />

the sign go or should it be<br />

allowed to stay? Email your<br />

views to sarla.donovan@<br />

starmedia.kiwi