News Tuesday, July 12, 2016
www.guardianonline.co.nz
■ ASHBURTON MUSEUM
Paper, Scissors, Rock! a school holiday hit BY EMMA MOODY
EMMA.M@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Ashburton Museum’s new interactive exhibit has been a hit for the school holidays. Paper, Scissors, Rock! opened last Saturday and museum director Tanya Robinson said children have been enjoying the collection of vintage games and activities. “The weekend staff said the kids are really enjoying it and the trail is being very well used,” she said. The museum has an interactive comment wall and Ms Robinson said comments from the children have been positive. “There has been some really great feedback and kids are getting really creative with the wall we have,” she said. Paper, Scissors, Rock! is comprised of vintage toys, games and activities which have been part of previous exhibitions at the museum. The exhibit has pieces ranging from a tyrannosaurus rex floor puzzle, which is two feet wide and three feet high, to vintage porcelain dolls. Paper, Scissors, Rock! runs from July 9 to October 10.
One of Ashburton Museum’s staff, John Morgon, shows two girls around the new Paper, Scissors, Rock! exhitbit on Sunday. PHOTO JOSEPH JOHNSON 100716-JJ-008
■ TRAFFIC CAMERAS
Smile, you’re on traffic cam BY LINDA CLARKE
LINDA.C@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
New traffic monitoring cameras will help keep an eye on Ashburton’s state highways and main intersections. One new camera has been installed at the intersection of Havelock and West streets and another will be installed on new traffic lights at the intersection of East and South streets when Countdown’s new supermarket is built there later this year. Another camera is proposed for the Walnut and West streets’ roundabout.
The three new cameras are in addition to an existing camera at the intersection of Moore and West streets. All are operated by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA). Canterbury West Coast journey manager Lee Wright said the extra cameras would provide a broader, better and realtime picture of traffic issues in Ashburton. The camera locations are the places most affected by congestion and where delays can occur at peak hours.
The camera at Moore and West streets had been the only eye on traffic flow in Ashburton for several years. The camera is remotely operated by the NZTA’s Christchurch transport operations centre, which operates the town’s traffic signals as a one-network operation for the NZTA and the Ashburton District Council. Ms Wright said the installation of the new traffic observation cameras would help aid the operations centre to optimise traffic signal operation, assist NZTA observe traffic flows, re-
spond to incidents, better communicate to emergency services and better communicate and report in real time any issues on the network with Ashburton drivers. “The key goal is to improve the information back to our customers.” The fixed cameras can be accessed by the public for oneminute updates on the Transport for Christchurch website (http://tfc.govt.nz/current-conditions/cameras/ – look about halfway down the camera list for Moore West).
Ashburton Guardian
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Scrapped Lot 9 a ‘win’ From P1 “This is a deep issue and we’d like to lend our support to other communities. We hope this will be a catalyst for change because water is such an important issue in Canterbury.” Once the group had recharged its batteries, the future of the consent on Lot 9 would be followed up, Ms Branje said. “This is not the end of it. The council needs to null and void that consent.” Fighting the consent activation had taken a huge toll on Bung the Bore’s small team of organisers, but the rewards had come in having the water bottling deal cancelled, she said. “We’ve had huge support and this has made people talk about water and think about water.” Ashburton Mayor Angus McKay disputes that it was community pressure that saw the deal with NZ Pure Blue canned. “This was a straight commercial decision. We have said we will, and we will, discuss their concerns at the next council meeting on July 28. In terms of the future of Lot 9 and the Lot 9 consent, Mr McKay said decisions would not be made during the final weeks of this council term; those decisions were decisions for the next council. “We could cancel this consent, but why would you? It was issued as water for commercial activities. This was to protect the town water supply if an industry came along and wanted lots of water. Other lots out there are on the town supply.” While there had been parties interested in Lot 9 in the past, NZ Pure Blue was the first written offer received, he said. There is still one other party interested in the site, but nothing would be taken further now until the new council term. If any good had come out of the failed deal, it was that it made it very clear how little people understood about the way the district’s water system worked and how much education was needed, Mr McKay said. “I’m certainly disappointed with that general lack of understanding. The new council will have to work with other parties more closely to make sure people understand how the water cycle works in this district.”
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