Five Women on 11 Member Christchurch City Board

Five women will be members of the 11-member, Christchurch City Council-appointed board for the revitalisation of the central city.

The board, announced today, is Antony Gough, a property developer, Daryl Le Grew, the University of Canterbury’s vice-chancellor, Lani Hagaman, a director and company secretary, Ros Burdon, worker in the arts fields, Joy Simpson, a business woman, Mike Fletcher, a newspaper editor, Craig Boyce, a business man, and Philip Carter, a property developer.

Also on the board will be the Mayor, Garry Moore, and Councillors Anna Crighton and Paddy Austin. Two patrons will be Richard Ballantyne and Sir Miles Warren.
When making the announcement, the Mayor said the board would hold its first meeting on December 16.

He said he was pleased with calibre of those appointed and was sure the board would be able to make a difference to the centre of city. “We need to bring people back into the area and see real revitalisation,” he said.

The board’s appointment comes after an initiative from Mr Moore who said the city had grown outwards towards the suburbs since the 1950s. “The central city will continue to be challenged by the outward growth and the central city can meet the challenges from the suburbs by bringing life back into the city centre,” he said.

He said he wanted to see many more residents living in the central city and that was considered a vital step towards it revitalisation.

Earlier in the year David Yencken who, as the State Secretary for Planning and Environment, led a major transformation of the central area of Melbourne, came to Christchurch to outline city revitalisation.

An independent committee of members of the Christchurch City Holdings Ltd selected the board.

© Scoop Media