Submissions

To: Christchurch City Council
Date: November 2024

Purpose

This submission’s primary purpose is to advocate for comprehensive accessibility improvements and to ensure that the needs and perspectives of disabled people are a high priority in all aspects of coastal management planning. This includes planning for potential coastal erosion, inundation, flooding events, and addressing the unique challenges posed by seismic risks, as experienced in past Canterbury earthquakes.

Summary of DPA submission

DPA emphasises the critical need for accessible and inclusive communities in coastal areas such as Whakaraupō Lyttleton and Koukourarata Port Levy. DPA highlights the beneficial impact of access to nature on mental health for all people, including disabled individuals, and recognizes the deep connection Māori disabled have to the land (whenua) through whakapapa. Given the increasing number of disabled and older people in the population, DPA asserts that all councils must plan and invest in the development of fully accessible communities, especially when considering difficult shorelines and coastlines.

The submission stresses that climate change disproportionately impacts disabled and older people, and that disabled people are actively contributing as agents of social change in addressing this. Furthermore, DPA points out that areas like Lyttleton and Port Levy face the additional challenge of seismic risk, as demonstrated by the 2010-11 Canterbury earthquakes, which significantly affected shoreline accessibility for months. DPA strongly recommends that the CCC prioritize the principles of inclusion, access, and co-design with disabled people in the coastal reserves management plan, ensuring that all changes to buildings, facilities, and assets are considered with an accessibility lens.

DPA's recommendations include ensuring that if any assets and facilities, such as public toilets or buildings, are moved due to vulnerability, they should be upgraded or newly constructed to universal design standards. This applies to reclaimed areas intended for parks or beach tracks, which should be designed with key accessibility features like signage, accessible toilets, height-adjustable seating, user-friendly picnic tables, and tactile strips for blind and low-vision individuals.

In situations involving "managed retreat" and building bans in specific geologically/climatologically vulnerable areas, DPA recommends that disabled people be specifically identified as a key population group for consultation due to the disproportionate impact these decisions can have on them. Lastly, DPA emphasizes that the needs of disabled people must be prioritized in civil defence and emergency management planning for the Lyttleton coastal area, advocating for their involvement as a key co-design stakeholder group in such plans.

Key Recommendation/Finding:

DPA recommends that the CCC make the principles of inclusion, access and co-design with disabled people a high priority in the refreshed coastal reserves management plan.

Supporting Statement 1:

"It is important for the CCC as part of its coastal management plan to ensure that accessible places and spaces are created that can include disabled people."

Supporting Statement 2:

"This means that all changes to buildings, facilities and assets are considered with an accessibility lens in mind."