July 9, 2022

Lower River Guidance

Lower River Guidance

The City Council has just endorsed and published the Lower Ōpāwaho Heathcote Guidance Plan. What on earth is a Guidance Plan, where did this spring from and what will it do for the river?

“Guidance Plan” is just another word for some variety a master plan which provides high-level guidance to planners about aspects of an area that need to be taken into account when new developments, refurbishment or other expensive changes are being contemplated so that there is some cohesion to the combined efforts.  The main outcome to a Guidance Plan is a feeling of co-ordination and direction over time.

The Lower Ōpāwaho Heathcote Guidance Plan has come into being through the actions of the Waikura Linwood-Heathcote-Central Community Board in setting up a Working Party to address the lack of co-ordinated effort around the reaches of the river below the Opawa Road bridge.  The City Council has undertaken substantial expenditure in recent years in this area when post-earthquake recovery, land drainage, flooding mitigation, dredging and cycleways are considered in addition to the council’s normal programme of annual maintenance and renewal. 

However, all these works have taken place in isolation without much consideration of the whole and as a consequence, opportunities for co-ordinated action have been missed, particularly those which protect and restore ecology and biodiversity.

The Guidance Plan has sought to remedy this.  “Through the lens of an integrated cultural framework, this plan will co-ordinate activities already under way, being planned, or envisaged along the lower Ōpāwaho Heathcote River corridor. This approach will ensure that activities are aligned in a more efficient way and allow community groups and the Council to share resources. It will significantly highlight a commitment to Te Mana o Te Wai.”

To understand the plan, which is particularly readable and easy to understand due to its layout and structure, it is best to consult the brief, fifty-page document itself, but to give a flavour of its overall intentions, here is a list of the key aspirations:

  1. Prioritise the natural environment;
  2. Increase space available for the river margin;
  3. Intensify native planting and reduce the volume of lawn;
  4. Reduce exotic trees and intensify native tree canopy;
  5. Increase shading of the river;
  6. Provide habitat for native fauna;
  7. Create a place of education;
  8. Improve connectivity to the river and between activities;
  9. Enhance social connections.

Watch: In moving the endorsement of the plan, Councillor Yani Johanson paid tribute to a number of people who had laid the groundwork. [Yani starts at 2’45”]

The Ōpāwaho Heathcote River Network is proud of the role that we have played in creating this plan. We encourage everyone with an interest in this part of the river to read the Lower Ōpāwaho Heathcote Guidance Plan and to be prepared to flourish it whenever future developments in this area are being considered.

OHRN News