This is the best thing for Christchurch. It should’ve happened 15 years ago.
House prices are too expensive!
No not like that!
but muh suburbs!!!1
Why is it always “it’ll become slums!!” the go to for NIMBY’s? When Hamilton introduced wheelie bins for rubbish and recycling I read the same thing about “Our neighbourhood’s will look like slums!!” Oh really? Wheelie bins are more slum-like than leaving black rubbish bags all over the berms every collection day? I suspect people who say this have never been near a slum in their lives.
I grew up in Papanui and my family lived in Hornby. It’s been awhile since I’ve been back but I don’t think there’s anything “special or unique about the fabric and make up” of those areas or whatever that even means.
Hornby is a dump. Both of those suburbs have lots of old houses, and strange streets that wind around and go nowhere. It’s difficult to navigate unless you live there. Ilam and Riccarton (at least, north of Riccarton Road) have more direct streets and less weird crescents.
In Hornby, there’s a second-hand book shop and a Pizza Hut on the main road. That group of shops really ought to be 10 storeys high - cheap apartments on the higher levels, shops and restaurants on the bottom. With car parks at the back.
I live in Hornby and yeah I agree. Those shops should be bowled and much higher buildings put in place. And allowing greater intensification here might actually improve the place if we end up getting more services, cafes, restaurants out here. Currently it’s a complete hospitality/entertainment/culture wasteland. It’ll be even better if we get the proposed light rail transport corridor out here too.
The only thing that worries me is that the scoped area that the 10 stories would be permitted goes a bit too far out into streets that aren’t equipped to deal with an increase in traffic. We already have massive problems with traffic that is too heavy and constant for the type of street that I’m on (as in the road material is physically not able to withstand the traffic already). If they made that scope just a fraction smaller, or improved the roads before all this kicks off, I’d be 100% happy with it. Screw nimbyism.
They should build footpaths too. Some of those streets in the main area don’t have footpaths.
