Christchurch Hospital park-and-ride car park may be in breach of consent
The Deans Ave site is providing car parking with a shuttle service to the hospital until the parking building lost to the earthquakes can be replaced.
Elderly, disabled and unwell patients and visitors have struggled to negotiate the site's uneven terrain, surface flooding and potholes and users have to queue for one ticket machine. It lacks good-quality shelter for people waiting for shuttles.
Negotiating water-filled pot holes at Christchurch Hospital's park and ride car parking site.
Resource consent granted by the Christchurch City Council in 2015 requires the car park to be regularly maintained, and "patched with asphalt where required to prevent trips and falls".
After being alerted by Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb that the park may be in breach of its resource consent conditions, the council's planning department dispatched staff to investigate.
DAVID WALKER/STUFF
Christchurch Hospital's car park at Deans Ave.
"Compliance staff have inspected the car park and are working with the consent holder to ensure that the conditions of the resource consent are met," a council spokesperson said.
The car park is operated by Alan Edge on land owned by Neowell Investments Ltd. Edge charges hospital users a flat rate of $5 for parking and has a contractual arrangement with the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB).
The CDHB has already told Edge they considered it unacceptable for people to "continue to negotiate such an uneven surface" and that better night-time lighting was needed.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF
The site has been used for hospital parking since 2015.
Edge's company Southern Demolition and Salvage was a big player in post-earthquake Christchurch, winning demolition contracts worth millions of dollars. Neowell Investments is owned by the Chiu family, based in Christchurch and Taiwan, who also own the derelict Antonio House site in Riccarton Rd.
Edge said he hired someone to be on-site and maintain the car park, and it met the required standards. Upgrading it would mean having to raise the charges, he said.
"Where in New Zealand can you park all day for $5 and get a ride from the car park?"
STACY SQUIRES/STUFF
Christchurch Hospital's main car parking building was lost to the earthquakes.
Webb said the state of the car park was "pretty shocking" and "must be a good little earner" and the consent conditions should be complied with.
The site, formerly the city's stock saleyards, replaces the metro sports centre site for temporary hospital car parking until a new parking building is built by 2020.
While Christchurch Hospital is being redeveloped, it has only disability parking and drop-off zones on-site.
In the meantime, suggestions for solving the hospital parking problem have included using the ratepayer-funded Lichfield St park, which is under-used.