Business South May 2021
12 | No sign of slowing up in Selwyn from page 10 The Izone Industrial Park has enabled a lot of manufacturing to move in to the Selwyn district with many businesses adding value to what is grown in the region, or adding value to product which is brought in. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Selwyn District Council Currently sitting at 2.6% compared to 4.6% for New Zealand, Selwyn’s unemployment rate has been historically low as a percentage and while it did rise dramatically as a result of Covid, it came off a very low base. “It has been a focus for our Council to have people employed where they live and the local towns not just a place where people return to in the evening to sleep. “In the early 2000s we developed the Izone Industrial Park in Rolleston, encompassing 200 hectares of ex-farmland,” says Sam. “The plan was to produce jobs and it has certainly done that, creating about 1300 jobs. There is a little bit of land left but not much. The South Island distribution centre for The Warehouse was the first big thing that went there and put a marker in the ground.” Westland Milk has established a plant there and Lyttelton Port Company has put their inland port in the expansion of Izone by private developers Carter Corp, which means 15% of the freight that goes to Lyttelton goes via rail taking trucks off roads, saving wear on the road and reducing congestion down Christchurch’s Brougham Street. Izone has enabled a lot of manufacturing to move in to the district with many businesses adding value to what is grown in the region, or adding value to product brought in. To date Izone has returned $43m to the Council, all reinvested back into the commu- nity. A close working relationship between Selwyn District Council, Waimakariri District Council, Christchurch City Council, Ecan, Ngai Tahu and some Government agencies has paid dividends in planning for the greater Christchurch area. The relationship was set up in the early 2000s to deal with urban growth and plan- ning. When the earthquakes happened a good framework was already in place as to what growth should look like. “It also enabled our Council to invest where we thought growth would go and that meant we had water and waste water either planned or in the ground ready to service the homes that came here,” says Sam. “It meant we were on the front foot to ena- ble and assist the growth that has happened rather than be sent reeling from the changes and growth.” The relationship also gave the Government confidence to invest in the region resulting in investment in the southern motorway and the development of a number of new schools over the last four years. “That’s along side other new builds and expansions because the population is continu- ing to grow.” The district’s population currently sits at 71,500 and is expected to reach 89,600 by 2031. According to Infometrics data, provisional estimates show Selwyn’s GDP grew 1.7% over the year to December 2020, including 4.7% growth in the December 2020 quarter. Selwyn’s house prices appreciated 7.5% in the year to December 2020, and sales volumes jumped by a remarkable 31.2%. Residential consents rose by 34%. The three main industries in the district are construction, manufacturing and agriculture. “With all the homes being built and the larger projects we’ve taken on recently the construction industry is booming. “The Council is building a Health Hub in Rolleston at the moment, to get greater CDHB services in Selwyn and saving our res- idents having to travel into Christchurch for everything. It has maternity and a birthing unit there. Pacific Radiology is coming in providing Xray and MRI services.” The council has also just completed the new Selwyn Sports Centre at Foster Park which has eight indoor sports courts. “We wanted that facility to be used for more than just sports. Four of the courts will have a harder wearing surface enabling car shows and the like to be held there.” Looking to the future, Sam says with all the money that has been invested in the new mo- torway and looking ahead to the rail corridor, a corridor approach needs to be taken with respect to towns and residential development. “We need to move away from the concentric model where towns grow from the centre out. That might mean a change from paddocks be- tween towns and developing residential areas around the corridors so we can easily connect to the transport infrastructure.” Could residential corridors provide the solution for urban growth, the need to better utilise transportation networks and reduce our carbon footprint? 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