Plan for new Avon River cut still within reach
Saturday, 13 May 2023
Decisions on a proposed new cut to the Avon River at Kerrs Reach in Christchurch could be a long way off, despite progress on plans to shift the onshore boating facilities.
Summers have become crowded on the stretch of river, with increased use by flatwater sports including rowing, kayaking, canoeing, waka ama and dragon boating.
This has triggered safety concerns about accidents, and disappointment that numbers enjoying the sports may have to be restricted.
The cut proposal was made by sports groups in late 2019 and is being considered by the city council. The area is inside Christchurch’s 602-hectare riverside red zone corridor.
The move would create a new one kilometre-long, 50m-wide river channel north of Kerrs Reach, reconnecting with the river at the Avondale Bridge.
It would also establish an 11-hectare island offering improved habitat for freshwater and land-based native species.
Last month the council released details of how it will switch the sports’ boat sheds from Porritt Park to the other side of the river. Clubs will fundraise for their own facilities on council land.
The new space will be part of a wider Wainoni landing on the new 11km city to sea pathway due to start construction this summer. The landing could become a community hub.
Council head of parks Andrew Rutledge said the land across the river is stronger than Porritt Park, which is an island.
“It creates an opportunity to create a centrepiece landing, right smack in the middle of the red zone. It becomes a much more engaging environment than it currently is.”
The council’s riverside red zone manager Davie Little said that in considering the plan for the cut, they needed to understand the impacts of having more water in the river, and whether the project could be consented if it was considered to be of ecological benefit.
He said widening the river would be “complex and difficult”, and hydrologists are in short supply.
“There’s a team working on it, but we’re probably not prioritising it quite as much as some of those initiatives that all have relationships to each other.
“We’re going to have to be absolutely convinced of the positive outcomes, prioritising environmental over recreational.”
The council is looking at the plan from both a technical and cultural perspective, before deciding whether to start preliminary designs.
The assessments are not expected to hold up development of the sports hub.
Craig Pauling, chair of waka ama club Te Waka Pounamu, said there was strong demand by sporting groups for extra river space, but they understood considering the cut proposal would take time.
”It’s a process. And it’s a big deal. Changing the course of the river is nothing to be sneezed at.
”Some people might be upset at the time it’s taking, but these things can’t happen overnight.”
Pauling, who has tribal affiliations to Ngāi Tahu and is deputy chairperson of Environment Canterbury, said the project should have environmental benefits for wildlife as well as making more room for water in the river.
”That’s got to be a good thing, with climate change. Wetland development and giving the river a bit more space is really important,” he said.
“Kerrs Reach has already been changed, that is not the original course of the river anyway.'
Pauling said the river got “really busy” with different sports training together. His own club, which is based at Kerrs Reach, has jumped from 50 members to 200 in about three years.
”Ōtautahi has some world-class athletes. If we want to keep growing, then getting better facilities in a better place is really important.”
Caleb Te Kahu, president of Te Awahaku Outrigger Canoe Club based further up the river at Owles Tce, said Kerrs Reach was “chaos” in summer.
“Water sport in New Zealand is obviously very popular, and there isn’t another flat water place in Christchurch except for the Avon,” Te Kahu said.
“It just lacks space.”
Previous proposals to cater for water sports as part of the red zone development, including creating an in-river lake and the East Lake’s Trust’s plan for a 2.2km lake outside the river, have been rejected.