Latest news with #JimO'Malley
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Work on tunnels trail to begin
Construction of the first leg of the long-anticipated Dunedin Tunnels Trail will begin next week, the Dunedin City Council has announced. DCC infrastructure services committee chairman Cr Jim O'Malley said yesterday in a statement the first 1.5km stage of the trail was fully funded by the council. From a $1.8 million budget, about $400,000 had already been spent on the design, consents and the purchase of land. The rest would be used for construction "and to progress stage one of the trail as far as possible", Cr O'Malley said. "We'll then work with the [Dunedin Tunnels Trail Trust] so they can implement the next stages." The first stage was all off-road, running from Gladstone Rd North, in Wingatui, along a disused rail alignment, before it ran through the Victorian-era Chain Hills Tunnel and a few hundred metres beyond. "People will get to experience the historic Chain Hills Tunnel, opened in 1875, and some lovely regenerating bush," he said. The plan in the long term was to continue the trail to Fairfield, Abbotsford Rd and Green Island through the Caversham Tunnel and into the city. The work scheduled to begin next week included construction of an unsealed trail, drainage works, fencing, installation of seats, plantings, handrails and signs. Trust chairman Brent Irving said it was "fantastic to finally get something under way". The trust had been working towards a trail since the early 2000s, Mr Irving said. "The potential for this trail is significant," he said. "The goal is to push through so commuting or recreational riders and walkers can move safely from Dunedin to Fairfield and on to the Taieri or vice-versa." "The wider, medium-term objective is to have a trail from Queenstown right through to Dunedin City and up the coast with various other trusts and groups working on different sections. Dunedin will become part of the hugely successful Shared Path Cycleway network across the region and the country." Council climate and city growth general manager Scott MacLean said the council understood it was "super exciting" to have the trail's construction under way, but people were asked to wait until the section was fully completed before attempting to use it. "Once it's completed, we'll also be asking people not to move beyond the end of the constructed trail," Mr MacLean said. "While it may be tempting to explore further, unformed sections of the trail, it would mean going on to private land or rail corridor and may impact our ability to negotiate access for the remainder of the trail." The council is developing the trail in partnership with the Dunedin Tunnels Trail Trust under a Memorandum of Understanding. In a social media post yesterday, the trust said Fulton Hogan had won the contract for the work. The first stage was due to be finished in October, it said. — APL
Otago Daily Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Letters to the Editor: Milburn, Fyfe and Mungo
Today's Letters to the Editor from readers cover topics including supporting the inland port at Milburn, a wonderful tribute to Jim Fyfe, and memories of "Mungo's Cottage". Milburn common sense inland port proposition Thank you Cr Jim O'Malley for applying common sense and supporting the inland port at Milburn rather than at Mosgiel. The Mayor, who obviously supports heavy trucks rolling through Mosgiel, must live in Dunedin city. As a Mosgiel resident, I know we already have enough heavy trucks travelling along our roads, especially our main street. This street is heavily used by locals and visitors, motorists and pedestrians, including many students, elderly and disabled people. The Milburn quadrant will enable trucks to travel straight off SH1 on to the privately funded site rather than on to city council and Land Transport Agency funded roads through our township. Even with the so-called "Mosgiel by-pass", which the agency will not fund, the Mosgiel site makes no sense. Geography lesson I don't have a view on the location of the inland port but, as a Dunedin lad now residing in Lower Hutt, I think Cr O'Malley needs to look at a map. Comparing travel from Dunedin to Milburn with Wellington to Lower Hutt is stretching things by a large margin. Lower Hutt's CBD is only 15km from Wellington's, the same distance as Dunedin to Mosgiel. Milburn is 49km from the city centre. That distance from Wellington would take you to the foot of the Remutaka Hill at the head of the Hutt Valley, and some 14km beyond Upper Hutt's urban boundary. Admittedly, peak travel times by road can be higher up north, but on the rare occasions that I go to Wellington at those times, it's a pleasant 20-minute train ride beside the harbour. Random thoughts Re the inland port. History says there is no solid ground on the Taieri: Milburn is an area of solid ground. No matter how much time one allows to drive to Dunedin, there is always lorries, some with trailers carting heavy goods, and the odd very slow cars as well. Patience is always required. This inevitably will worsen as now in the South so many pine forests have been planted. Congratulations to Calder Stewart for their common sense actions. Bypass needed Has any thought at all gone into how transport is going to get to and from the proposed transport hub in Mosgiel? Obviously now is the time to get a traffic bypass operating to relieve pressure on using SH87 through Mosgiel. We do not want this heavy traffic through our main shopping area. Pillocks and manure Bravo to Dr Robert Hamlin on his recent letter, ( ODT 15.5.25) about Sir Ian Taylor's use of the word pillock. The only time I use Kate Shepherd $10 note is to pay for bags of horse manure at our local horse stables. No disrespect meant. Fyfe praised What a wonderful tribute to Jim Fyfe in today's Weekend Mix (17.5.25). It is truly outstanding. One has to ask, though, why he is retiring at the age of 59 when his work in advocacy for the wildlife of the Otago coast is so important both to the region and to the survival of endangered species? I wish him all the very best in his future endeavours. It was wonderful to see such good local reporting with the recent article on "Mungo's Cottage" ( ODT 17.5.25). I recall standing in that lounge, looking out the window, cold, wet, and rescued. Without that sweeping view of the harbour, the Lewis family may not have noticed a scrappy blonde 11-year-old with one oar and no lifejacket drifting down the harbour in a small dinghy one evening. Down or out, whichever the correct nautical term, it was towards the ocean. The outgoing tide was fast. "No lifejacket" you say. Were you around in the '70s? We did have some heavy orange things on the small family yacht, moored at Carey's Bay. I think they were made of sand. Even the rats did not eat them. The relevant point was only one oar. A mistake that. A beautiful freckled teenage boy was sent out to rescue me while his grandad sat and watched. Could have been a great romance, had I not been an obviously wilful and stupid child, exceedingly young for such adventures and rather humiliated waiting for Dad to come and collect me. Never found the oar. But thank you Lewis family, and bless you for making sure the cottage will continue to live on to do more good works. Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@
Otago Daily Times
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Council set to put issue of glass bottles back in play
The issue of glass bottles in North Dunedin is about to become a "high-priority topic" as the council prepares to send its alcohol policy back to the drawing board. The Dunedin City Council developed a draft local alcohol policy (Lap) that was expected to come into effect earlier this year. However, at Wednesday's council meeting, hearings committee chairman Jim O'Malley said the policy had been recommended for reconsultation, expected to begin in 2026, and to include formal discussions on the sale of glass bottles around the University of Otago. At hearings in December, police called for a ban on the sale of alcohol in glass containers that had a volume 500ml or less from premises within a 1200m radius of the university, which they defined as 362 Leith St. Cr O'Malley said the "glass problem" had not been part of the consultation document but the council needed to directly consult the North Dunedin community before a decision was made. "It is clearly going to move to a high-priority topic," he said. There had not been "sufficient engagement" on the LAP with the council's partner agencies, he said. "We felt as a committee that it was better to do the process properly, because it's a six-year period, than to go forward with what we considered was a not properly consulted-on pre-consultation document." The current policy came into effect in February 2019. The council is required to review it within six years. Cr O'Malley said while the existing LAP would lapse, it "effectively" remained in place until updated. Dunedin was one of about half a dozen cities that would have lapsed alcohol policies. The draft plan contained several proposed changes, including reducing the time off-licence premises could sell alcohol by an hour, banning promotion of alcohol on the exterior of premises and a temporary freeze on new off-licence premises north of the Octagon. A council spokesman said a report on the matter would go to the council in coming months.
