Jo Davies-Colley
Art and Sport were well and truly represented this weekend as Cambridge was busy with residents and visitors enjoying the very popular and exciting Autumn Festival, the Maadi Cup regatta and street parade and the incredible Te Awa Cycleway completion celebrations. Cambridge is certainly a great place to live in and visit.
The Cambridge Community Board has been working to develop some strategic priorities that we want to focus on and advocate for over the next three years. Our focus is on the liveability of Cambridge and our priorities reflect our purpose of advocating for Cambridge to continue to be a great town to live in.
Our first priority is to see a new library/community hub in council’s next Long Term Plan. One of our most used community services, we believe our current library is not fit for our growing town and the opportunity to create a new facility and integrate other associated community services into the community hub, is preferable. We are staying connected with community facilities staff and are working in partnership with them for the future goal of a new library and community hub.
Our next priority is urban mobility but specifically Shakespeare Street. We are pleased and excited to see the Cambridge Pathways Plan underway and know that this will bring great cycling and walking safety improvements to the CBD. However, we acknowledge that our community is asking for safety improvements to be made in Shakespeare Street, specifically for school children travelling to and from school. We would like to see safer and better-connected access for active mobility into the existing network and that these changes be permanent and not interim.
A people friendly CBD is our next priority. We are advocating for the Cambridge CBD to be a vibrant, connected and inspired public space with comfortable seating, spaces to rest and play. We want to see Cambridge have a welcoming town centre that supports active mobility, prioritises people and celebrates its culture and history. The Cambridge Community Board view the town hall as a significant Cambridge asset that is of a wide benefit to the community, its many diverse groups and events.
We acknowledge that the town hall will need significant ongoing support and we see council’s proposed funding as necessary and timely. As the upgrades and improvements are made to the town hall, we believe it will bring an increased number of event opportunities to Cambridge therefore becoming an even more important and valuable asset to our community.
If you have any feedback on any of these priorities or any other issues in Cambridge you can email me or come to one of our public forums. We would love to hear from you!
