The View from the Plains

Forest and Bird, Issue 308, 1 May 2003, Page 20

The View from the Plains

LYNETTE HARTLEY

reports on threats to the open prospect

of the Port Hills above Christchurch.

he Port Hills form a definitive | backdrop to the city of Christchurch. Standing above the city of the plains, the grassy hills swarm with runners, mountain bikers and walkers in the long summer evenings and weekends. Look a bit closer, however, and all is not well. Urban sprawl is creeping up the flanks of the ancient volcano and in places there are conspicuous dark green blocks, straight-

edged rows of pines, reaching right up to the crater rim along the Summit Road. The appearance of the lava spurs leading up from the city could change dramatically over the next few years if applications for subdivisions currently before the Environment Court get the go-ahead. David Alexander, past chair of North Canterbury Forest and Bird and a former planner, says the Port Hills are dear to the hearts of Christchurch residents but they have less formal protection than people realise. At present roughly one-fifth (2873 hectares) of the Port Hill’s 13,700 hectares has some form of protection. David Alexander says it is time to think about getting more land in public ownership and permanently protected. ‘It could be a twenty-first century version of setting aside Hagley Park [the vast area of grass and trees in the very centre of the city]. It would be something future generations would value, he says. Ironically it is private ownership that was responsible for keeping the bulk of the hills the way they are today. In pre-human times the Port Hills were covered with totara and matai forest. They may have had thinner vegetation and tussock on some of the rocky soils but forest would have reached to the skyline. Roughly 700 years ago Polynesian fires swept the eastern South Island and, by the time Europeans arrived, the forest was largely

gone from the northern slopes. Early European fires took still more bush and, thanks to subsequent grazing, tussock and exotic grassland have given wide-open views across the hills, and a tawny-coloured backdrop to Christchurch. It is unclear whether farming on the hills is still economic, but farmers are increasingly tempted by alternatives such as subdividing, selling land for lifestyle blocks or planting pine trees. In recent years new subdivisions have gone in on several spurs facing the city including Westmorland and the eastern spurs of Cashmere. Lone houses have popped up high on hillsides and skylines. Subdivisions are also pushing higher and wider on the already urbanised spurs. Several pine plantations are now conspicuous from the city including one near Dyers Pass Road, a popular access point to the hills. A planning consultant and former chairman of the Summit Road Advisory Committee, David Collins, says one of the problems is that attractive house sites are, by their nature, the most conspicuous because they are high on ridges with magnificent views. He believes even one or two houses in a previously rural area are one or two too many, because landowners’ expectations are raised and land value is hiked up. Land then becomes too expensive for farming and too expensive to buy for reserves. Environment Canterbury councillor, Valerie Campbell, (a former chair of North

Canterbury Forest and Bird), says the Port Hills are not being nibbled away, they are being munched. She is upset the Christchurch City Council has allowed housing to creep upwards and she is fighting a spur-by-spur battle through the Environment Court to get appropriate controls on subdivision. With so much land on the hills in private ownership the responsibility for regulating development falls on the three local councils; Christchurch City, Selwyn District and Banks Peninsula District. Each has its own plans and policies resulting in huge disparities between areas. In 1995 the Christchurch City Council released a draft city plan that implied residential housing could only to extend to the 160 metre contour, about one third of the way up the hills. By the time the plan was finalised this had changed to over 200 metres elevation. Various landowners objected and the housing limit was lifted further on several spurs including Montgomery Spur to 220 metres, Mt Pleasant to 330 metres, Burnett Park Valley to 320 metres and Huntsbury to 260 metres. At least six cases are before the Environment Court including Montgomery Spur which is clearly visible from the city and, at this stage, subdivision-free. Valerie Campbell fought to have the applications to subdivide re-advertised and got huge public support. The city council decided against subdivision and joined her, and Environment Canterbury, and community groups, in taking the case to the Environment Court. A series of decisions on this and other spurs is expected in the next few months. In other places Christchurch City has

reached compromise agreements with landowners where the council gets land higher on the spur, or land with high conservation values, in return for allowing subdivision lower down. In some cases the council has required larger sections and agreed to landowners setting additional controls on the appearance of housing and landscaping. Valerie Campbell has given evidence at the Environment Court on the need for greater design and landscaping controls on some prominent spurs. She wants to see the city council show more backbone in ensuring rules in its city plan are adhered to. She would ultimately like to see more public ownership on the Port Hills with responsibility vested under the Reserves Act. he southern side of the Port Hills, facing Lyttelton and inside its drowned crater, is under the administration of the Banks Peninsula District Council. David Collins describes the situation as a ‘free for all’ with the proposed council plan giving too much weight to landowners’ rights and not enough to landscape values. Residents have been ‘in limbo’ for seven years with the council operating on a proposed plan that has yet to be finalised. ‘The uncertainty is really irresponsible, he says. David Collins and 12 other residents have been fighting council approvals for a house high on the hills above Governor’s Bay. ‘It’s really in your face; he says. The group reached an agreement with the owners before the case went to the Environment Court opting for restrictions on landscaping and assurances a public walkway through the land would be legalised. Now the landowner wants to put more buildings on the land than originally agreed. David Collins says Banks Peninsula District Council’s approach to zoning has no subtlety and no regard for the special nature and high visibility of the landscapes. He wants the council to assess the landscapes and zone areas differently depending on what level of development they can take. ‘These are nationally important landscapes, he says.

N a positive note the Christchurch City Council has been active in buying up blocks of land when it can, particularly along the Summit Road. A council planner, Kelvin McMillan, says the 720 hectares acquired since the early 1990s brings the area the council administers to nearly 15,000 hectares which is just about as much as it can maintain adequately with present resources. Reserves are nearly continuous along the summit of the hills from Godley Head (at the entrance to Lyttelton) to Coopers Knob (overlooking the Selwyn countryside). Six council rangers maintain tracks and signs for recreational users, and control weeds and pests including gorse, broom, boneseed, Himalayan honeysuckle, goats, rats and possums. The Summit Road Society, a voluntary group with an active interest in the Port Hills since 1948, has raised the possibility of establishing a Port Hills Regional Park. The park would allow existing landowners to continue with their activities but it would allow more efficient overall management, of weeds and pests for example, and it could strengthen public access rights. There is support for the idea from other

organisations but city planner Kelvin McMillan says the practicalities have not been explored — such as whether the community would pay the extra to have the hills administered as a park and whether farmers would participate. He says the city council’s land is already well run and it is working on overall strategies for restoring biological diversity and for managing tussock grassland with grazing. At present the land on the Port Hills is owned and administered by a multitude of different authorities including private land owners, the three different councils, Maori owners and various trusts all with different management objectives. Many of the landowners want to protect the landscape values of their areas and there is certainly a lot of support from the public for stopping the creep of development, whether it is pine plantations, subdivision, lone houses or helicopter operations. The challenge over the next few years will be finding a management structure that protects the land for future generations. As David Alexander says, now is the time to show foresight because future generations will thank us for it.