Current News
CELLPHONE TOWERS COMING TO SUMNER
As a result of the February 2011 earthquake, Telecom’s mobile site at 34 Wakefield Ave was destroyed by rock fall that also caused damage to many of the properties along Wakefield Avenue.
With the original site no longer an option for Telecom to provide services to the Sumner community a temporary mobile site was placed at 29 Nayland St to ensure continuity of service. Unfortunately, this location is not suitable for a permanent mobile site.
It was emphasised during and after the earthquakes just how important it is to ensure there are reliable communication services available so that family and friends can keep in contact. Chorus has been working on behalf of Telecom in an effort to find suitable permanent replacement options. Following this investigation, it was concluded that two smaller sites in separate locations within Sumner would provide better coverage to the community.
A number of considerations were taken in to account when looking for a suitable location for mobile sites in the Sumner area:
- the high residential population
- Sumner’s unique location and the potential for the community to be isolated from Christchurch during a civil defence emergency
- a suitable location for continuity of services to the community in the event of future natural disasters.
With these considerations in mind, the first selection of the two-site solution is to install a permanent mobile site at the Sumner Telephone Exchange property on Nayland St. The significant advantage for locating the site at the exchange is our ability to provide longevity of our mobile services by connecting to the exchange power supply in the event of an emergency.
The second selection was more challenging as the required location is a highly populated residential area. We discussed our options with the Council and it was agreed that the roadside berm at St Leonards Park was the most suitable position. As part of the installation, Telecom will undertake some beautification of the location by under-grounding the surrounding overhead power lines.
If you have any questions about the mobile plans, please contact Rebecca Stuart on 04 3825639
Key Submissions to City Council
A vital part of our work at the SRA is making submissions to the City Council or other bodies.
Our submissions are the result of a lengthy but standardised procedure:
- After deciding a submission is appropriate, the issues are discussed at a monthly meeting. Often a committee member will spend considerable time analysing the proposal and will present the information to the committee at a second meeting.
- A draft submission is circulated to all committee members and to all other persons who have requested to be kept informed of SRA activities.
- Comments are accepted and incorporated into further drafts which are then finalised.
- The secretary and chairman agree on the draft which is then submitted.
During the process we do all we can to interest as many local people as possible in providing ideas, comments and feedback on our submissions. This ensures that as many ideas as possible are incorporated into our final draft. We try to comment on significant differences in opinion that occur during debate at our meetings. This is intended to ensure that statements are as useful as possible to those making decisions.
Some submissions must be made quickly due to process time constraints. In these cases, there may not be opportunity for debate in the public meetings. All committee members and all others on our mailing list will still be informed of the process and asked to comment in such cases.