Lemonwood Grove School Principal Blair Dravitski says traditionally Rolleston had been thought of a community were everyone did well for themselves, but some families were struggling with the cost of living crisis. Photo: RNZ/Niva Chittock
Where do you see your community in 50 years? What about in 100? Those are the questions Canterbury's Selwyn District Council is asking its residents.
The council hopes the Waikirikiri ki Tua Future Selwyn project will help to ease growing pains in the country's fastest growing district, by breaking decisions out of silos and giving the community more of a say in long-term planning.
Principal Blair Dravitski's primary school Lemonwood Grove was Rolleston's newest in 2017.
In the past four years, he said his roll had swelled by more than 100 students per year to be the South Island's biggest primary school, with 980 pupils.
It would only continue to rise, Dravitski said.
"Our local schools - Clearview has got over 800, West Rolleston has got over 800 and we're expected to get to 1150 in the next 18 months," he said.
Half of Rolleston's primary schools had been built in the last 15 years, and another new one was announced by the Education Minister this month.
Rolleston South was set to open in 2026 and had a total capacity of 1000.
It could not come soon enough, nor could Rolleston College's second campus, Dravitski said.
"It's absolutely needed. The Rolleston College second campus is essential... the growth is there, the infrastructure is not," he said.
"The new site has been prepped but definitely needs to be fast-tracked because our primary schools have between 300 and 400 kids heading to Rolleston College next year, and so on and so forth in the years to come."
The college was Rolleston's only high school.
While the town had long had a reputation of its people doing well for themselves, an increasing number were struggling to make ends meet with high mortgage rates and 14 percent rates rises, Dravitski said.
"It puts a real strain on our community. We provide breakfasts in schools, we provide other social services because Rolleston doesn't have any.
"We have a Salvation Army, we don't have a Work and Income office, we don't have an Oranga Tamariki office, we don't have any other supports for families doing it tough," he said.
State of the roads
The state of the district's roads was the top priority for community advocacy group Lincoln Voice.
Spokesperson Denise Carrick said there had been 78 serious crashes and 10 deaths on roads between Lincoln, Christchurch and Rolleston over the past six years.
There had been a noticeable rise in crashes this year, especially involving intersections and pedestrians, she said.
The latest was just last week, which left three people in hospital.
"Because we have such a big rural area, we're never going to get rid of cars. So I think we need to look to the future and improve and maintain the roads," Carrick said.
"Make [the roads] wider, make them more accessible for urban drivers, put in more traffic lights, more roundabouts, slow people down."
Lincoln Voice spokesperson Denise Carrick says she wants roads in the district to be safer, with better marking, lower speed limits and flashing signage. Photo: RNZ/Niva Chittock
Housing was one thing the district was not short of.
Lincoln Voice had originally formed in opposition to a large development on land that was graded as highly productive.
Its Environment Court case was thrown out when the land's designation was changed to allow residential housing under new government standards, Carrick said.
It was time to think about building upwards in the town centres, instead of continuing to sprawl outwards, she said.
"We would love [the council] to keep our prime producing land, not build on it, but build up our town and city centres [instead], where our medium density should be."
Many people didn't realise how quickly Selwyn was growing and what implications it could have, Carrick said.
"It's probably the same as the rest of the country - there's been a shortage of GPs here and it's been very hard for people to sign up to a doctor locally, particularly in Rolleston."
Health Canterbury's Chiquita Hansen said a new general practice will open in Rolleston in the next six months and it's recently opened a bigger primary birthing unit in the district.
The public health service had also provided population projections to Selwyn District Council and would be submitting on the project.
"Health NZ will continue to work as a partner with the council as we strive to meet the needs of the local community through our place based planning processes," Hansen said.
The district had already doubled in size in the past 10-15 years, the council's executive director of development and growth Robert Love said.
Council long-term plans currently spanned 10 years, but Selwyn was looking for a wider, more unifying vision, he said.
"It means every single decision that council does make will align with this purpose. While individual decisions can be small, they do add up into the big long run over 50 years and to a 100 year horizon," Love said.
So far, most of the feedback the council had received through the project was positive, he said, and detailed findings would be released once the feedback data had been collated.
Public consultation on Waikirikiri ki Tua Future Selwyn closes on Sunday 4 August.
