Bay Harbour: May 15, 2019

PAGE 10 BAY HARBOUR<br />

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

Wednesday <strong>May</strong> <strong>15</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />

Local<br />

News<br />

Now<br />

News<br />

Call for better protection of birds<br />

Fire rages, homes at risk<br />

• By Matt Slaughter<br />

MORE NEEDS to be done to<br />

protect birdlife around the<br />

Avon-Heathcote Estuary.<br />

The Avon-Heathcote<br />

Estuary Ihutai Trust says dogs,<br />

drones and<br />

people continue<br />

to be a threat<br />

to the 118 bird<br />

species, which<br />

call the estuary<br />

home, including<br />

godwits.<br />

Tim Lindley<br />

The Coastal-<br />

Burwood<br />

Community Board will now<br />

investigate what it can do to better<br />

protect these birds after trust<br />

members expressed concerns at a<br />

meeting last week<br />

The estuary became part of the<br />

East Asian-Australasian Flyway<br />

network last year, a network,<br />

which protects migratory waterbirds<br />

across wetlands in about 20<br />

countries.<br />

PROTECTION: (Left to right) – Lesser knots, godwits, and south island pied oystercatchers are being disturbed according to the<br />

Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust.<br />

Trust member Tim<br />

Lindley said the birds,<br />

which used the estuary faced<br />

threats that people may have not<br />

been aware of.<br />

“Birds do see dogs as<br />

wolves . . . it’s quite important<br />

that they’re not disturbed by<br />

dogs.”<br />

Mr Lindley said the estuary’s<br />

proximity to the eastern suburbs<br />

in both the Coastal-Burwood<br />

and Linwood-Central-Heathcote<br />

wards made protecting them<br />

even more important.<br />

“The birds stop feeding for 10<br />

minutes when they are interrupted<br />

by humans.<br />

“Because this international flyway<br />

is in an urban area, it’s only<br />

going to get worse.<br />

“It’s dinner time for the<br />

birds and we need to keep it<br />

that way.”<br />

Board members agreed the<br />

signage currently in place telling<br />

people to be respectful of birds<br />

when around the estuary<br />

needed to be improved.<br />

Board member Linda<br />

Stewart suggested signage<br />

should give more specific<br />

information on the types of<br />

behaviour and activities that<br />

disturbed birds and how this<br />

could be avoided.<br />

Website map to identify where pot holes are<br />

• By Julia Evans<br />

WORKING OUT how to avoid<br />

potholes and bumpy roads will<br />

soon easier with the development<br />

of a website map.<br />

The city council is working<br />

on a new “roughness condition<br />

map” which will show the<br />

condition of each road, lane,<br />

street and drive.<br />

Said city council planning<br />

and delivery transport manager<br />

Lynette Ellis: “The roughness<br />

condition map will identify<br />

how rough a road is, both as<br />

a measurable number, and as<br />

a description (eg good or<br />

poor).”<br />

Ms Ellis said the technology<br />

is used elsewhere in New<br />

Zealand and there is no direct<br />

connection between the map<br />

and the earthquakes as the map<br />

will be using recently measured<br />

data.<br />

“The driver for this is to share<br />

factual information concerning<br />

the transport network with the<br />

community,” she said.<br />

It will also be used to help<br />

inform decision-making city<br />

councillors and community<br />

boards make with regard to<br />

investing money and prioritising<br />

infrastructure.<br />

“Functionally this is using<br />

data that council already holds,<br />

and serving it onto the website<br />

via new software that has been<br />

made available via council’s<br />

geospatial programme,” Ms Ellis<br />

said.<br />

The map is intended to be live<br />

on the website later this year.<br />

The state of roads around the<br />

city remains a hot topic eight<br />

years after the February 22, 2011,<br />

earthquake.<br />

Last year’s city council Long<br />

Term Plan was set to focus on the<br />

“basics” – setting out to prioritise<br />

improvements to roads and<br />

footpaths alongside wastewater<br />

infrastructure and drinking<br />

water upgrades.<br />

ROUGH: The<br />

city council<br />

is working on<br />

developing<br />

a map for its<br />

website to<br />

tell residents<br />

which roads<br />

are in the<br />

poorest<br />

condition such<br />

as this damage<br />

on New<br />

Brighton Rd.<br />

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