Beachside apartments on hold but car parking still an issue

There are concerns a planned medium-density housing development could exacerbate parking issues in a coastal Christchurch suburb.

Work on the Williams Corporation medium-density units on Marine Pde, opposite the North Beach Surf Lifesaving Club and North New Brighton Community Centre, is on hold.

However, the North Beach Residents’ Association and surf lifesaving club say they will keep battling authorities until the car parking issues are resolved as they fear their parks would be used by unit residents and their visitors.

Under new Government rules, developments like the one on Marine Pde are only required to provide car parks designed and marked for use by persons with a disability or with limited mobility.

The Government has said the intention is to increase housing developments in higher-density areas, particularly housing close to public transport.

But association co-chair Philip Ridge said it would have a major impact on its and the surf club’s car parking.

On weekday mornings, the car park adjoining the North Beach Surf Lifesaving Club and North New Brighton Community Centre could be full, Ridge said.

He said on busy days, people have to walk a block in order to get to the beach.

“The car park at North Beach is already at capacity. We’ve already identified this as a problem about 18 months ago,” Ridge said.

At the latest Waitai Coastal-Burwood-Linwood Community Board meeting, the association and the surf lifesaving club jointly requested the community board not issue resource consent for the development until off-street parking is provided.

Said Ridge: “If you don’t provide off-street parking then you’ve got to have the infrastructure in place.

“This is New Brighton. We don’t have a public transport infrastructure, a bus might come once an hour.

"So if you live here, you need a car.”

In 2020, Te Manatū Waka Ministry of Transport revealed there were 920 light vehicles for every 1000 people in Canterbury.

Even though Williams Corporation has put the resource consent application for the units on hold, Ridge said: “We’ll be continuing to pursue our objections to any development on that site that  does not provide off-street parking.”