Celeste Donovan: Christchurch city councillor on the new proposed caravan park that just got the green light

A new motorhome park proposed for red zone land in Christchurch's New Brighton has been given the green light. 

Christchurch City Councillors have approved to lease the land to the Motor Caravan Association for 10 years.

It allows up to 100 motorhomes, with stays of up to 10 days in any 30-day period.

Councillor Celeste Donovan says  now it's time to go through the resource consent process. 

"The way forward should be pretty straightforward from there - of course, the council can always get in the way, but I think there is support for the proposal across the council." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A caravan park in the christ Choots Red Zone has
been given the green light. The park is going to
be on Red Zone land near the Avon River in
New Brighton. It's going to be open to members of
the Caravan Park Association. The co Governance Committee overseeing the
land voted unanimously in favor of the park. Celest Donovan
is a christ Church City councilor and is with US
now host.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Celeste, Hey, thanks having me.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
So is the deal? Is the park a done deal?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
I think we're most of the way there, but there's
still a bit to resolves, so they have to go
through results consent process.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
And then is that it.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, that's pretty much it.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
So it's easy resource consents like that. Eh, really easy process,
done deal exactly.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
I mean they've been through this before. I mean this
is they've got a model that they apply to all
these Motor Home Association parks. So they've done a bit
of due diligence and they're getting into so I think
the way forward should be pretty straightforward from their end.
Of course, council can always get in their way back.
I think there is quite a bit of support for
the proposal cross Council and you would have seen that yesterday.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Now, I thought that I heard in the news the
other day that we're busy evicting people from the Red
Zone to make way for a wetland, are we not.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
I think there's a bit of confusion as to sort
of we're in the red zone. This is so the
red zone's for times. The size of Hagley Parks was
a pretty big the land, and this area is on
in a different bit of the Red Zone. It's got
a bit of a different history. It's been used as
a sort of dump site for contractors since the earliest
early twentieth century, and it's not accessible to the public,

(01:32):
so it's not been used for any other purpose, and
it's contaminated. So it does make sense on the site
to less it out for this purpose, I think.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
So hold on, do caravan owners want to sit on
top of contaminated land? Do they?

Speaker 2 (01:44):
If you're in a caravan park, I don't think it
matters too much because you're not really sort of it's
not a home. It's a transitional space. You park there
for a few days.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
And you move on, so you're not there long enough
to really be affected by it. Is that about it?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, not unless you're digging a hole in the ground
and creating zamper. But I mean it's a similar set
up to what they've gotten Kaipui, which is incredibly popular.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
List It just strikes me that it does feel a
bit odd, doesn't it. That we've got a whole bunch
of people who are living in their cars and being
told they have to move on, and then we're creating
a caravan park. Should we not? If we're doing something
like this, should we not also be creating some space
for these people who clearly need a home as well.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
I think it's understandable why people will draw that comparison,
but I think it's important to say that the sites
are quite different and they've got different histories. So on
the one hand, you've got a bit of land that's
been leased for a transitional purpose and it's been paid
for by New Zealand motor home associations, so there's no
cost to council. In fact, it'll probably save councils some
money because we maintain that site which hasn't been used

(02:42):
for anything except for a gravel yard to one side.
On the other side of the river, which is quite
low lying, it's been turning to wetlands because it's not
suitable place for people to live, and it is in
the regeneration plan for wetlands over the long term. That's
not a suitable place for people to be living long term.
And I think think it makes sense to be looking
at other sites for people, but this isn't the right

(03:03):
site for them, the Bexley site that they're currently staying at.
So there is a commitment by councilor to work with
other partners on where people might go, but ultimately we
want to move people too housing that's the best long
term place for people.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yeah, all right, interesting, So Loise, thank you very much,
really appreciate it, so least Donovan christ Huch City councilor
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