Why an inland port, why not a freight hub?
It is quite unbelievable that when Port Otago announced plans for an inland port just north of Mosgiel that the community board chairman Andrew Simms continues to push for a hugely expensive truck bypass of the Mosgiel township when a significantly much cheaper and cost-effective option would be to establish the long mooted freight transfer hub at Milburn just north of Milton. Problem solved Mr Simms.
I am sure Cr Jim O'Malley has far greater and pressing needs for our precious ratepayer dollars than wasting what would be millions of dollars on yet more roads and bypasses for trucks when there is an under-utilised railway nearby.
Thought should also be given to a freight transfer hub at Bushy, just north of Palmerston.
That would also reduce significant truck movements, not just on the hilly northern motorway but also on the port road, and go some way in reducing heavy traffic accidents at the bottom of the Pine Hill road intersection. Hardly rocket science.
The residents of Mosgiel and Wingatui would not appreciate the noise of frequent train movements from north Taieri. Surly the shunting yard proposed for Milburn, mooted for the last 20-plus years, would be a better option?
Or maybe Henley could be expanded, as it is already a loop with a siding.
Pothole patrol
I cannot believe Christopher Luxon and the National Party have committed $500 million to fix potholes in our roading network. If they think this is a great policy to get them more votes then they are taking the electorate for granted.
Yes our roads are in poor condition. How did this happen?
In 2010 the National government increased the maximum truck weight from 44 tonnes to 53 tonnes and our chip seal roads have been deteriorating ever since.
This was compounded, however, by National, supported by Act, decreasing the Waka Kotahi roading budget by 1% a year when they were last in government. This was in an effort to get the Budget surplus the Hon Bill English had promised after they had reduced income tax and increased GST, resulting in lower income earners paying more tax.
Now the National Party are suggesting applying a band aid to a wound they created, wasting taxpayers’ money, without addressing the cause of the pothole problem: overweight trucks.
Banish loneliness
David Jenkins and Eileen Corcoran (ODT, 19.7.23) are right to identify housing patterns as one of the causes and one of the potential solutions to the problem of loneliness in our communities.
Loneliness can be a major issue affecting the wellbeing of elderly people living by themselves.
The 14 Abbeyfield houses around New Zealand (including in Dunedin and Frankton) are part of an imaginative solution. Abbeyfield houses provide affordable long-term living for up to 14 independent elderly people on a non-institutional scale. A housekeeper prepares lunch and dinner each day and residents eat together in the dining room, meaning that the company of other people is built into the structure of the day. Company, good food and a warm home are three of the factors promoting continued good health for elderly people.
More imaginative solutions like Abbeyfield? Yes please.
Teachers know best about teaching science
A draft science school curriculum document has been given the thumbs down by numerous New Zealand science teachers and lecturers.
The important subjects of physics, chemistry and biology have been omitted and the periodic table doesn’t even get a mention. Surely these are the most fundamental areas needed for any science curriculum?
This document was co-written by Cathy Buntting (senior research fellow at Waikato University) and was supported by Sara Tolbert (Associate Professor of science and environmental education at the University of Canterbury). I wonder if any of those who designed this curriculum has been (or is) a school science teacher?
At a minimal cost, and in a minimal time frame, three or four successful teachers could update the present curriculum areas for which they are teaching. These are the teachers who really know and understand what should be taught and they will continue to teach vital fundamental concepts. They are the teachers who know exactly what should be in each curriculum document.
However what about the new science teachers who could be required to teach their science concepts using this inadequate document? Those researching and developing any new school curriculum document must be completely familiar with all areas about which they are writing.
Each researcher/developer/writer should be expected to complete and pass the university examinations for each individual area. Then we could be sure that curriculum documents were fit for purpose and our New Zealand learners would receive a quality education second to none.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
