A pest and predator free Horomaka/Banks Peninsula by the year 2050? …That is the bold goal, the vision of active community groups and agency partners of the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust (BPCT): private land owners, Summit Road Society ‘Predator Free Port Hills’, Christchurch City Council, Department of Conservation, etc. Community Voice campaigns through 2019 for…

Better public passenger transport frequency and reliability lift service quality for custom and revenue, to feed further improvement. 2019 is prime time to speak up for these again, so where should priority be placed? For fresh ideas and good debate, see facebook.com/ChristchurchTransport and watch this space. Also christchurchtransportcommunityservices.wordpress.com Two years back when seeking election, Labour…

SWIMMABLE RIVERS Yes and no – you have this now, at your own risk. That will always be the case, given dense waterfowl on lower reaches and human impacts like urban stormwater, trace chemicals, pet faeces and trash debris, not to mention intensive farming. So we must spare no effort to clean up all rivers, to…

Media Release: CommunityVoice.NZ 15 September, 2016 Canterbury residents soon have their first say on regional governance for nine years. Limited elections to Environment Canterbury will put seven local councilors at the decision-making table from October 2016. These will be joined by up to six government appointees, some of them current commissioners, including two representing Ngai…

The Avon Ōtākaro river Network (AvON) conducted a council candidate survey, late August 2016. The Community Voice answers to the AvON questions posed are: 1. Do you support a multipurpose city-to-sea River Park? Yes, it will become a spectacular, diverse and sustainable asset for all of Waitaha Canterbury and Aotearoa New Zealand. 2. Do you…

Housing costs are getting out of hand. Strategies to keep housing affordable for everyone are needed. Initiative to bulk supply entry level housing is missing from all levels of government, who too cruelly see housing as investment rather than human right. Council housing tenants need management that engages with them and cares for their situation,…

Water supply disaster at Havelock North spotlights the thin line of regulatory protection for what we value most in Canterbury quality of life too – a pure water environment. So how do we preserve clean waters and improve them where they are compromised? Community Voice campaigns for election to Environment Canterbury now and this is why…

With all the challenges Environment Canterbury faces we have decided to help them out. With your help, of course – a voting public can achieve just about anything, on a good day! We also have a Christchurch City Council campaign running for the Spreydon-Cashmere Community Board. Watch our Candidates page for more information coming soon.. And…

Central Canterbury communities have had a rough ride – earthquake upon earthquake, EQC and insurance battles with huge family stress – all on top of undermined democracy. Suburb by suburb people have found each other, as the main support in difficult times. Neighbourhood organisations are flourishing which characterises ground-up recovery. How can we carry this community strengthening forward, for safer and better…

Our quality of life depends on natural resources we must care for collaboratively. Biodiversity and future promise depends on all this. Industrial pressure on aquifer and river water has reached a point where they compete with urban values in Christchurch. What we draw freely from taps, of very high grade, is finite. Sewage overflows are…