Lincoln Voice spokesperson Denise Carrick says Selwyn is growing too big and too fast for local government spending to keep up. Photo: RNZ/Niva Chittock
A Canterbury town's makeover is due to begin this year, eight years after the plans were first adopted.
Selwyn District Council created the original Lincoln Town Centre plan in 2016, which focused on upgrading Gerald Street from Lincoln University to the Liffey Stream by James Street.
The plan had five elements: buildings and active frontages, public space, moving (walking, cycling and driving), car parking and use of streets.
It involved "comprehensive consultation" and developed "subsequent actions for council to undertake to support the traditional village character of the town centre as it grows", the council said.
The region was the fastest-growing in the country - the population almost doubling in the last 10 years - and the renewal was desperately needed, according to community advocacy group Lincoln Voice.
"We want it to actually get done because [the council] have been talking about it for so long," spokesperson Denise Carrick said.
The town centre was a great community hub, with green spaces, a weekly farmer's market, redeveloped library, cafes and businesses, she said, and it was important to keep that feel while ensuring the town continued to be safe and accessible.
"[The plan] includes things like cycleways through the main town, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings."
There had been a noticeable rise in crashes this year, especially involving intersections and pedestrians, she said.
It was the main topic in the group's submission on the council's Waikirikiri ki Tua Future Selwyn project, which was asking the community to imagine what the district would look like in 50 to 100 years.
"There's also extra car parking going in [under the renewal plan] which will take cars off the road and make it safer as well," Carrick said.
The council's executive director of property and infrastructure, Tim Mason, said the plan had always been produced as a long-term vision.
A field on Ellesmere Road is one of the newest development locations in Selwyn District's Lincoln township. Photo: RNZ/Niva Chittock
"It was acknowledged at the time that it would be some years before the plan would be actioned as the council had already committed to other long-term upgrade projects which would need to be completed first as they had been agreed with the community first," he said.
In the council's 2021-2031 Long-Term Plan, the upgrades were scheduled to begin in the 2027/2028 financial year. The budget for the original works was approximately $27m.
"This work was brought forward in the 2024-2034 Long-Term Plan at a budget of approximately $46 million and we are working to begin the first stage of the Gerald Street upgrade in this financial year," Mason said.
"That sounds like great news if it does actually start this year," Carrick said.
Further information would be released in the next few months, Mason said.
