John MacDonald: Drip-fed Christchurch Hospital parking not the answer

Christchurch mayoral candidate Phil Mauger says if he becomes mayor, he'll put cobblestones on a grass verge on Riccarton Avenue and space for 100 cars. Photo / Christchurch City Council

OPINION

It wouldn't be a local body election without hospital car parking coming up for discussion.

And that's what's happened today, with mayoral candidate Phil Mauger announcing that he wants to use part of Hagley Park for a hospital car park in Christchurch.

As you probably know, there's a new 450-space car park being built but that isn't expected to be finished until the end of next year.

Hospital parking is at a premium outside Christchurch Hospital for patients and staff. Photo / File

The original plan was to build an 800-space hospital car park. The plans were in place and things set to go. But in 2017, the government said 'no' to funding it.

So they went back to the drawing board and, in 2020, the Government agreed to build the smaller 450-space building and add another two floors to an existing staff car park to create another 230 spaces.

But there have been the inevitable delays and it's going to be the end of next year before the new car park is ready.

So Phil Mauger is saying today that, if he becomes mayor, he'll put cobblestones on a grass verge on Riccarton Avenue where he reckons there'd be space for 100 cars. If you park there you'll get the first two hours free and Mauger says he'd want it done by Christmas.

So this would be a stop-gap measure until the new one is finished and ready.

He's saying that the area he's got in mind is a strip of grass that used to be used "unofficially" for parking. These days it's a no-stopping zone and Phil thinks what used to be the unofficial parking area should be turned into an official one.

He's teamed-up on this one with fellow city councillor Aaron Keown who also used to be a member of the Canterbury District Health Board before the government got rid of health boards and did its centralisation thing.

So Aaron Keown is very familiar with this issue. Mauger says he's no stranger to it either. He's saying today that his wife was in hospital earlier this year and he saw first-hand how terrible the parking situation is there.

Not to mention how expensive it is in that tiny little car park out the front of the new Waipapa hospital building.

Not surprisingly, the advocates for keeping Hagley Park as it is aren't fussed with this idea. I see their spokesperson is likening Phil to Bob the Builder. Can we do it? Yes we can.

You may recall when the Hagley Cricket Oval development was happening, the "Hands Off Hagley" group were up in arms. They were the same about the proposal to put floodlights in at the Oval.

That was to ensure the ground could be used for international TV broadcasts and I don't think we can say that the Oval development and the lights have been the downfall of Christchurch.

Nevertheless, the "Hands off Hagley" people have a job to do - which is making sure Hagley Park as we know it isn't lost. So good on them for that.

As for Mauger's idea, I think he's dreaming if he thinks he could have it done by Christmas. I also think we need to consider what would happen in other places where they have beautiful green spaces right in the middle of a city.

Do you think they'd do this kind of thing with Hyde Park in London? Do you think they'd do it with Central Park in New York? Of course they wouldn't. And that's good enough a reason for me to think it shouldn't happen here.

What's more, how would you know who was parking there because they were at the hospital and who was parking there while they nipped into Ballantynes and had a coffee at Riverside?

It's shortsighted and only being suggested because of the elections.

Fellow mayoral candidate, David Meates - who knows a thing or two about the hospital - is describing Mauger's idea as "a desperate solution". He says randomly creating 100 car parks does not fix the problem.

Which, of course, it doesn't. But then I don't think Phil Mauger is claiming that. He's just putting it out there as a stop-gap measure.

And he's not planning on any drawn-out consultation process. If he becomes mayor, he'll do an online survey to get a mandate to go ahead with it.

As he puts it: "We don't need to consult this to death, let's just ask the people and then get on with it."

If it gets to that point, I'll be saying thanks but no thanks.