Green light for bike park

A proposed bike skills park has been given the green light to go into the Ashburton Domain.
A collaboration of community service groups is leading the project, and can now start working on designs after the Ashburton District Council approved a location this week.
Safe Communities coordinator Lesley Symington, who provided a submission requesting the park to the council, said it was pleasing to now have a location.
“It’s great to see the council is really on board with it going ahead.”
A bike skills park is for children to learn to ride a bike in a safe environment, away from footpaths and roads.
Deputy mayor Liz McMillan, who is also chairperson of both Safe Communities and the Road Safety Co-ordinating Committee, had been involved in initial meetings and believed the new location was akin to hitting the jackpot.
The location is around the existing pump track in the domain, between the playground and the paddling pool, which democracy and engagement group manager Toni Durham said was identified for an extension in the domain development plan.
“We thought it was logical to try and wrap this in and around that space because it’s part of what we already discussed with the community.”
With a location locked in, they will now form a steering group to progress the project.
It will be made up of representatives from the Ashburton Rotary Club, Ashburton Plains Rotary, Ashburton Lions Club, Ashburton County Lions, and Safe Communities.
They will start by working with a landscape architect that has experience with bike skills parks to understand what the design and layout could look like, Durham said.
“Then we can get the costings down and understand how the funding works.
“They are a highly motivated group with a number of contacts in the community.
“There isn’t an intention from this group to come to council to seek money. The contribution they were seeking was the land.”
The council’s open spaces department will be closely involved in the process to ensure “we are given something that is useful for the community but isn’t an exorbitant expense to maintain”, Durham said.
With councillors raising some concerns around parking, accessibility, seating, and how it works in with the domain, Mayor Neil Brown wanted the designs to come before the council for a final sign-off.
A bike skills park that recently opened at Caroline Bay in Timaru was a project led by the Timaru Suburban Lions and cost around $530,000.
By Jonathan Leask
