Churton Park - the forgotten suburb has been remembered

The Dominion Post previously reported the plight of Churton Park - "the suburb progress forgot". Recently the suburb has received more attention from central and local government.  Given the substantial amount of tax and rates revenue collected from the suburb the only surprising thing is how long it took to get noticed.

 

Today the suburb has:

• a new primary school under development at Amesbury Drive;
• a new neighbourhood Shopping Centre planned for 2011 on the corner of Lakewood Avenue and Westchester Drive;
• a new roading extension at Westchester Drive - expected to be started next year and connecting to SH1;
• and the possibility of new multi-purpose community facilities of some description.

At last it seems there is a real prospect of good solid infrastructure being put in place for this growing suburb.

Social Capital Needs Rebuilding

Social Capital is the glue that holds society together. It takes many forms. It is present when volunteers clean up a stream, build a marae, or teach literacy classes. It adds to the strength of communities. It stands in contrast to the selfish individualism for the libertarian Right. It also stands in contrast to the collectivist uniformity of the far left. Building Social Capital is about empowering local communities, rebuilding neighbourliness and recognising the value of voluntarism.

Given the failures of the centralisation of political and financial power which has developed since the 1950s perhaps it is time for a different policy programme?