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Otago Daily Times
05-05-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Pupils' safety request met with questions
Portobello children, pleading their case for safety improvements around their school, did not escape a few tough questions from one Dunedin city councillor. At yesterday's long-term plan hearing, three Portobello School pupils asked the council to finish Te Awa Ōtākou, which they said would fix dangerous roads around their school. Also known as the Peninsula Connection, the project aims to improve road safety, forming part of a shared path around Otago Harbour, but sections on the peninsula remain incomplete. Pupils Robin Luff, Bella Monteith and Ivy Larkins had submitted on the same topic at last year's annual plan hearing and again "respectfully" asked the council to finish the project. After their submission, Cr Lee Vandervis had some questions. "Are you aware that we've already spent over $100 million on the cycleway out to the peninsula?" he asked. "Are you aware that the extra bit of cycleway you're talking about doesn't meet [NZ Transport Authority Waka Kotahi] safety priorities? "And are you aware that the data that we now have on the last four years of cycleway use shows that despite all the money we've been spending, that cycleway use hasn't increased in the last four years?" Portobello School teacher Cheryl Neill stepped in to answer. "We do know that you've spent an awful lot of money, which we appreciate, but we would really like it just down to the end of Harington Point Rd." Cr Brent Weatherall asked if it was fair the final stages of the project would be entirely council funded. Ms Neill said in an "ideal world" there would be government funding — "but no, it's not fair". The pupils told the council the road past their school was unsafe — a section of road some called "the death hole". "It is a place where many people, including me, walk when we go to school or take our young siblings to kindergarten," Ivy said. Speeding locals and tourists and big vehicles did not leave much room for error, she said. "The road is old and dangerous. We don't want it to be dangerous." Yesterday, four other submitters spoke in support of Te Awa Ōtākou, including Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou ūpoko Edward Ellison, who also asked the council to complete the project. Speaking to the rūnanga's submission, Mr Ellison said he was pleased to see the completed sections of Te Awa Ōtākou were well used — completing the project would improve safety for all road users. "It came as a surprise to us to find that after the upgrade had been completed, that we are left in a bereft situation from Portobello out. "The traffic is faster, there's much more of it and people are not stock-aware, nor are they road-aware, many of them." The hearings are expected to run for the rest of the week.
Otago Daily Times
02-05-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
‘Keep your promise': children to council
Forty pupils from Macandrew Bay School have submitted to the Dunedin City Council regarding the unsafe footpath outside Portobello School. Holding their submissions are (from left) Gracin Stuart, 8, Zaxen McInally, 10, Nina Bransgrove, 8, and Willa-Mae Stuart (10). Photo: Stephen Jaquiery Dunedin school children are dipping a toe in the turbulent waters of local government, asking the city council to "keep your promise" on Otago Peninsula's shared pathway. Almost 50 pupils from Portobello and Macandrew Bay Schools made submissions, some complete with drawings, on the Dunedin City Council's nine-year plan (2025-34), urging progress on Te Awa Ōtākou. Also known as the Peninsula Connection, the project aimed to improve road safety and formed part of a shared path around Otago Harbour, but three sections on the peninsula remain incomplete. Some of the drawings which accompanied Macandrew Bay School pupils' submissions on the long-term plan. Drawing: supplied In their submissions, Portobello School pupils told the council about crashes and near-misses they had seen near their school. "All there is, is a tiny piece of off-cut along the side of the road," one pupil who was involved in a crash said. "If a car was coming along there at a high speed, which they usually do, it could easily collide into a pedestrian or biker." Drawing: supplied "Some of my classmates call it the 'death hole'," another said. Others told the council their parents did not let them walk in the area and some shared concerns about the impact on local tourism. The council was considering funding $18.5 million through the nine-year plan to complete the project. Support from government agencies was unlikely, it said. Drawing: supplied Macandrew Bay School pupils were pleased with the completed section outside their school and hoped the council could finish the job. "Can you please finish the path you promised, but I love your work so far," one submission said. Another was concerned about fellow pupils: "How terrible for Portobello School to not to have a pathway! There might be an accident." Drawing: supplied "Keep your promise to Portobello School." Portobello School teacher and Otago Peninsula Community Board member Cheryl Neill made a submission on behalf of the school saying it was "essential" the council complete Te Awa Ōtākou. "In these three areas there are no walkways and no room for error. It is dangerous for our tamariki," she said. Drawing: supplied Macandrew Bay School principal Nic Brown said her pupils were lucky to be able access Te Awa Ōtākou so easily and they felt strongly the pathway needed to be complete. The submissions were a great way to practise persuasive writing and the "dying art" of letter writing, Ms Brown said. "It's really important for our children to see that their voice can actually make a real difference to things like this." A week-long hearing on the plan begins on Monday.
