02-05-2025
‘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.
