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Environment Canterbury Draft Annual Plan 2025-26

Posted in Submission, Regional; Tagged Housing, Accessibility, Emergency management; Posted 17 months ago by DPA Less than a minute to read

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To: Environment Canterbury
Date: April 2025

 

Purpose

This submission’s core purpose is to provide feedback on critical areas such as public transport, environmental protection, and climate change, ensuring that regional council services are good, accessible, and safeguard communities, particularly disabled people, who constitute a significant portion of Canterbury’s population. DPA also seeks to acknowledge and further collaborative efforts in emergency preparedness for disabled individuals.

Summary of DPA submission

DPA notes that disabled people constitute a significant share of Canterbury’s population, with 17% identifying as living with impairments. DPA highlights and thanks Environment Canterbury for their support and collaboration with local Civil Defence teams on the "Be Emergency Prepared" workshop series, designed to build capacity, skills, and confidence for disabled people and their whānau in responding to natural disasters. DPA supports the proposed new bus routes from Rolleston-to-City and Darfield to Rolleston, recognizing these as fast-growing communities that have been underserviced.

DPA also acknowledges the successful rollout of the single zone bus fare structure in Greater Christchurch, which has attracted more people, including disabled people, to use buses. Given funding changes and rising costs for public transport,

DPA supports a two-zone fare structure as the best option to avoid disproportionately higher fares for bus users, as it would only create a $1 differential between zones. DPA welcomes the proposal to maintain existing concessions for Community Services and Gold Card holders, many of whom are disabled people, as this will mitigate the impact of higher fares on these user groups.

DPA recommends that all new buses used on the proposed routes are compliant with the New Zealand Transport Agency’s Requirements for Urban Bus Standards. DPA also recommends that Environment Canterbury works alongside all local authorities in the Greater Christchurch region to ensure fully accessible bus stop infrastructure is built to service the new routes.

 


Key Recommendation/Finding:

A key recommendation is that disabled people and disability organisations are involved as key consultation stakeholders in the design and delivery of the new bus services.

 


Supporting Statement 1:

The new bus routes are intended to serve rapidly growing communities, making it crucial for their design to directly incorporate the accessibility needs of disabled people from the outset.

 


Supporting Statement 2:

This involvement will ensure that the new services are truly accessible and user-friendly for all disabled individuals, contributing to an equitable public transport network for a significant portion of Canterbury's population.

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DPA Submission 2504 Environment Canterbury Draft Annual Plan 2025/26 (DOCX)

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