For Akaroa and Whakaraupō/Lyttelton, the issues are different – but with much overlap. (Pun intended: climate change and sea-level rise impose accelerating adaptation.)
Peak demand from tourist cruise ships oscillates with off-season lulls, challenging local business sustainability. There are waste peaks to manage too, affecting council rates.
Akaroa remains a remarkable tourism gem, set in quite raw natural beauty. There is much ecology to preserve, notably small Hector’s dolphins and penguins. Local water supply requires careful management, through city and regional councils working hard together at Zone Committee. All the environmental values around Akaroa harbour need good care.
An industrial port – the largest in the NZ South Island – waste concerns for Lyttelton are at another level. With expansion for more coal storage and shipping, the impacts of harbour infill continue – when much of the Christchurch building rubble produced from the 2010-2011 earthquakes began this. Floating debris of various kinds got distributed across many local shores. So concern has been great and resulted in the awarded and applauded Whaka-Ora Healthy Harbour collaborative plan of 2015-2018.
http://www.lpc.co.nz/plan-to-restore-the-health-of-whakaraupolyttelton-harbour/
https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/tag/whakaraupo-lyttelton-harbour-catchment-management-plan/
A slump in the China market (due to new US trade tariffs) has export pine logs piling high currently. The port prospers in general, through assorted highs and lows.
More info:
Akaroa and the Bays – Akaroa.com
Akaroa Places and Spaces Plan – CCC PDF, Feb 2011
Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre & The Lyttelton Review fortnightly
Christchurch City Council planning instruments
Christchurch District Plan:
Banks Peninsula District Plan:
Banks Peninsula Walks:
1. Hinewai Reserve:
Fools & Dreamers: Regenerating a Native Forest “free 30-minute documentary about Hinewai Nature Reserve, on New Zealand’s Banks Peninsula, and its kaitiaki/manager of 30 years, botanist Hugh Wilson” – Happen Films, Jul 2019
[Draft, more words to come…]
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