John MacDonald: Here's what we should do with Cathedral Square

Can you believe the audacity of the Christchurch Cathedral Reinstatement Project asking the Government for another $60 million?

Quite rightly Finance Minister Nicola Willis has said no and the Anglican Cathedral is now likely to be mothballed.

Which leaves us with the question: what do we do now with Cathedral Square?

There are two options, as I see it. We could leave it to linger as it has since the earthquakes. And keep tip-toeing around waiting for the cathedral to be finished. Which, let's face it, could be another 20 years away.

Or we could forget about what might or might not happen with the cathedral and just get on with redeveloping it. Fixing it up. Bringing the Square back to life. And that’s the option that gets my vote.

Because I think we should stop being hamstrung by the cathedral and get on with the job of making the Square somewhere people go again.

And top of my list, is getting a road going through there. Re-connecting Colombo Street and getting the area back to what it used to be in terms of vibe and energy.

I know that flies completely in the face of what all the urban development people say we should be doing in places like the Square. But what we need in the Square is people. And, in some respects, for the next wee while, anyway - we’re going to have to pretty much force people to go back there. And the best way of doing that, in my opinion, is sticking a road back in.

So we’d have Colombo Street going through the Square, and we’d have bus stops there. I know we’ve already got the new-ish Bus Interchange but I reckon buses going into the Square and having bus stops there would bring people into the area.

Because, if I think about how I want the Square to be in 10 or 20 years time, I want there to be restaurants; I want it to be the place for the kinds of events and activities that don’t need all the space of Hagley Park.

But we are dreaming if we expect hospitality operators to set-up shop in the Square the way it is at the moment. They’re the ones who have skin in the game, who take the risk, who put it on the line.

So the city needs to do its bit, and make the Square a place full of people again.

One of the barriers, at the moment, to having decent-sized events there is the way the Square sits at different levels in some parts - with little stairs. So, as well as bringing traffic back-in, I want to see it levelled-out and I want to see a lot more greenery there.

I’m not just talking trees - I’m talking about grass.

Because people don’t stop and put a blanket down and have lunch on grey tiles, do they?

People are attracted to green spaces. Something the Square hasn’t been for years.

Putting a road back in, levelling it out and making it greener wouldn’t necessarily come cheap. It would still be a decent amount of money. But the time for waiting for the cathedral to be finished is over.

I had a look at the weekend. And, if we wanted to keep the door open for the cathedral to be worked on over the next 20 years or whatever - the road couldn’t just run straight to link up Colombo Street, from where it stops on either side of the Square.

In fact, back in the day when there was traffic in the Square, the road curved around the front of the cathedral anyway. So I reckon we should do the same - but curve it out even wider to leave enough space for the footprint of the reinstatement work.

That way, the option would always be there for the work to crank up again. If that ever happens.

And by doing all this, not only would we have people going into the Square again, the cathedral would also become more of a curiosity than an impediment.

Because I know people bang-on about finishing the cathedral being important because it would be symbolic of a city’s recovery from a terrible natural disaster. But I think that, now things have dragged-on for so long with nothing else

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Can you believe the audacity, the audacity of the christ
Church Cathedral reinstatement project asking the government for another sixty
million bucks? I mean quite rightly, quite rightly, Finance Minister
nichol And Willis has said no, and the cathedral looks
likely now is going to be mothboard, which leaves us
with this question, what do we do now with the

(00:35):
cathedral square? Well, there are two options. Two options as
far as I see it anyway you might see others.
The two of them are one. We could leave it
to linger as it has since the earth quakes, and
we keep on tiptoeing around waiting for the cathedral to
be finished, which, let's face it could be another twenty

(00:56):
years away. Or we could forget about what might or
might not happen with the cathedral and just get on
with redeveloping it, fixing it up, bringing the square back
to life. And that's the option that gets my vote,
because I think we should stop being hamstrung by the
cathedral and get on with the job of making the
square somewhere people go again. And top of my list

(01:18):
is getting a ride going through there again, reconnecting Columbus Street,
and getting the area back to what it used to
be in terms of vibe and energy. And look, I
know that, I know that that flies completely in the
face of what all the urban development people say we
should be doing the spaces like the Square. Going to
talk to one of them shortly, but I don't care
about that, because what we need in the Square is people,

(01:41):
and in some respects for the next week while anyway,
we're going to have to pretty much force people to
go back there. They're out of the habit of going
to the Square. I've got to force them to go
back there, and the best way of doing that, in
my opinion, is sticking a road back in. So we'd
have Columbus Street going through the Square, and we'd have
bus stops there. And I know we've already got the

(02:02):
Newish bus interchange, but I reckon buses going into the
Square and having bus stops there will certainly bring people
into the area. Because if I think about how I
want the Square to be in ten or twenty years time,
I want there to be restaurants. I want it to
be the place for the kinds of events and activities
that don't need all the space of Hagley Park. But

(02:24):
we are dreaming if we expect hospitality operators to set
up shop in the square the way it is at
the moment. They're the ones who have the skin in
the game. They're the ones who take the risks, who
put it on the line. So the city we we
need to do our bit and make the square a
place full of people. Again. One of the barriers at

(02:45):
the moment to having decent sized events there on. This
may have occurred to you or not, is the way
the square sits at different levels in some parts with
those little stairs. So as well as bringing traffic back in,
I want to see it leveled out and I want
to see a lot more greenery there. Not just talking trees.
I'm talking about grass. Why would I want grass? I'll

(03:05):
tell you why I want grass Because people don't stop
and put a blanket down and have lunch on gray tiles,
do they. People are attracted to green spaces, something the
square hasn't been for years. And let's face it, putting
a road back in, leveling it out, making it greener
wouldn't necessarily come cheap, but I think it would be
quite realistic. It will still be a decent amount of money,

(03:28):
but the time for waiting for the cathedral to be
finished is over. I had a look at the weekend
and I did a little bit of the practicality checks,
and if we wanted to keep the door open for
the cathedral to be worked on over the next twenty
years or whatever, the road couldn't just run straight you know,

(03:49):
up or straight up, linking Columbus Street from both ends
where it stops on either side of the square. In fact,
back in the day when there was traffic in the square,
the road did curve anyway around the front of the cathedral.
So I reckon we should do the same, but curve
it out even wider to leave enough space the footprint
of the reinstatement work. That way, the option would always

(04:10):
be there for the work to crank up again if
it happens. So if you were heading down Columbus Street
and measure this heading towards the square from the Valentine side,
the road would curve quite sharply to the left, and
then you'd swing around to the right again once you
were past the cathedral site and connect with the existing
north side of Columbus Street by the Turinger Library, and

(04:33):
by doing all this, not only would we have people
going into the square again, the cathedral would actually become
more of a curiosity than an impediment. Because I know
people bang on about finishing the cathedral being important because
it would be symbolic of a city's recovery from a
tragic natural disaster. But I think now that things have

(04:56):
dragged on for so long with nothing else happening in
the square, all it's become is just a big advertisement
for lack of progress. It doesn't say that we have
tried over in adversity as much as the rest of
the central city does. It just says that adversity has
been the winner, and that won't change until we get

(05:16):
over this idea that nothing can happen until the cathedral
is finished.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
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