[00:48.70]CAROL:Good morning and welcome again to Your City Today.
[00:52.18]With me today is Graham Campbell, a councillor from the city council.
[00:57.75]He will be telling us about the plan to improve the fast-growing suburb of Red Hill.
[01:02.83]Good morning Graham and welcome to the show.
[01:05.40]GRAHAM:Good morning, Carol.
[01:05.88]CAROL:Now, Graham, I understand that there has been a lot of community consultation for the new plan?
[01:11.97]GRAHAM:Yes, we've tried to address some of the concerns that local groups told us about.
[01:16.65]People we've heard from are mainly worried about traffic in the area, and, in particular, the increasing speed of cars near schools.
[01:25.36] They feel that it is only a matter of time before there is an accident as a lot of the children walk to the school.
[01:31.30]So we're trying to do something about that.
[01:34.50]Another area of concern is the overhead power lines.
[01:38.17]These are very old and a lot of people we spoke to asked if something could be done about them.
[01:43.54]Well, I'm happy to report that the power company have agreed to move the power lines underground at a cost of $800,000.
[01:52.53]I think that will really improve the look of the area, as well as being safer.
[01:57.25]CAROL:That's good to know, but will that mean an increase in rates for the local businesses in that area?
[02:03.76]GRAHAM:Well, the power company have agreed to bear the cost of this themselves after a lot of discussion with the council.
[02:10.48]This is wonderful news as the council now has some extra funds for us to put into other things like tree planting and art work.
[03:11.15]GRAHAM:Now, we've also put together a map which we've sent out to all the residents in the area.
[03:15.87]And on the map we've marked the proposed changes.
[03:18.62]Firstly, we'll plant mature pine trees to provide shelter and shade just to the right of the supermarket in Days Road.
[03:26.80]In order to address the traffic problems, the pavements on the corner of Carberry and Thomas Street will be widened.
[03:33.15]This will help to reduce the speed of vehicles entering Thomas Street.
[03:37.70]We think it's very important to separate the local residential streets from the main road.
[03:42.76] So the roadway at the entry to Thomas Street from Days Road will be painted red.
[03:48.14]This should mark it more dearly and act as a signal for traffic to slow down.
[03:52.89]One way of making sure that the pedestrians are safe is to increase signage at the intersections.
[03:59.25]A 'keep clear' sign will be erected at the junction of Evelyn Street and Hill Street, to enable traffic to exit at all times.
[04:07.20]Something we're planning to do to help control the flow of traffic in the area is to install traffic lights half way down Hill Street where it crosses Days Road.
[04:16.50]Now, we haven't only thought about the cars and traffic, of course, there's also something for the children.
[04:23.10]We're going to get school children in the area to research a local story, the life of a local sports hero perhaps, and an artist will incorporate that story into paintings on the wall of a building on the other side of Hill Street from the supermarket.
[04:37.22]And finally, we've agreed to build a new children's playground which will be at the other end of Hill Street close to the intersection with Carberry Street.
[04:46.50]CAROL:Wonderful, now, what's the next stage?
[04:50.40]GRAHAM:Well, the final plan...
