Christchurch's Mayor Garry Moore said today that for more than 130 years residents had been calling for improvements to Cathedral Square.

Various opinions were still held today about the Square, he said.

For that reason the City Council asked architect Ian Athfield and urban planner James Lunday to provide a framework of ideas for the council to produce future designs.

Mr Moore emphasised that Messrs. Athfield and Lunday had produced ideas only. Dave Hinman, the Council's Central City Policy Leader and Council member of the Cathedral Square team, said consultation had been the key element of the work by Messrs. Athfield and Lunday.

Submissions (216) made to The Press newspaper in its Fix It campaign had also played a part.

Key elements of the ideas are:
* Special paving at entrances to the Square, with new pedestrian crossings.
* Special textured surfaces at areas where there is a conflict of traffic and pedestrians at the east and south ends of the Square.
* Special bottom-heavy bollards able to be shifted and not fitted to the surface.
* A grove of trees on the west side with a water feature.
* In the northwest corner, adjacent to the Rural Bank building, Market Square with special paving and potential for 7-metre high poles from which awnings and screens are fixed.
* A Garden of Four Seasons around the Cenotaph. A walkway to the memorial surrounded by wet and dry areas.
* The Police kiosk shifted and incorporated with the tram stop in a two-storey pavilion made of glass and steel, including a 24-hour café and public toilets, located near the chessboard.

In future, a southern pavilion could be provided so that present stallholders are brought together. On the second storey could be a stage for concerts. Toilets included.

Mr Lunday says it is important that consultations continue with the property owners and tenants in the Square.

Other ideas were that lighting needed to be improved and that lanes off the Square be developed in some way.

There was also a suggestion that a roll-down screen for silent films be erected between Warners and the Star-Times building.

Christchurch City Council http://www.ccc.govt.nz

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