This week is Hospice Awareness Week. Hospices provide terminally ill people and their families with the services and support they need. Hospice Awareness Week is an opportunity for New Zealanders to celebrate and support the work this vital part of the health sector does for some of our most vulnerable New Zealanders every day.
The 13th to 19th of May is also New Zealand Sign Language Week. For more information, visit www.deaf.org.nz.
Christchurch CBD cordon continues to shrink
It is encouraging to see further reductions this week in the Christchurch inner city cordon. These cordon reductions are possible because of work by CERA, the Christchurch City Council, contractors and property owners to remove hazards.
The new reduced cordon will allow people to walk through Cathedral Square from the Worcester Street Bridge to the intersection of Gloucester and Colombo Streets. Parts of High Street, between Cashel and Lichfield Streets, and between Lichfield and Tuam Streets, will also be reopened to pedestrians.
It is hoped that the cordon will be able to be removed completely by June or July.
For maps of the present CBD cordon and reductions over time, please visit www.cera.govt.nz/cbd-rebuild-zone/cordon-map and www.cera.govt.nz/map/cordon-reduction.
TV Takeback scheme
Well done to all of you in Selwyn who have taken advantage of the Government’s TV TakeBack programme to recycle your old televisions and prevented tonnes of harmful material ending up in landfills. The Selwyn District Council has collected 1,803 televisions so far and we have now provided additional funding so that a further 800 TVs can be taken. If you still have an old television you no longer require you can drop it off for recycling at the Sicon Depot at Darfield or Pines Resource Recovery Park at Rolleston.
New scenic reserve for Banks Peninsula
Soon after the announcement of the new marine reserve for Akaroa Harbour comes more good news for conservation on Banks Peninsula with the planned creation of a new scenic reserve at Saddle Hill, six kilometres east of Little River. The Government’s Nature Heritage Fund, together with the Rod Donald Banks Peninsula Trust and the Josef Langer Trust, has purchased 145 hectares of land at Saddle Hill for the creation of a scenic reserve and walkway.
This is an excellent example of Government working together with local trusts to preserve our natural assets for future generations.
The Saddle Hill area contains one of the few remaining stands of old growth podocarp forest on the peninsula as well as narrow-leaved snow tussock grasslands so is an important site from a conservation point of view. It is also a place of spectacular beauty that will be enjoyed by local people and visitors to the region.
Amy Adams
Member of Parliament for Selwyn
Amy Adams with Prime Minister John Key.
