But the city council’s tourism and economic arm appears to have made another public relations blunder – it replaced the contentious Christchurch and Ōtautahi street flags with the red and black of Canterbury.
Lyttelton Harbour Business Association chairwoman, Vicki Tahau-Paton, said the change to red and black flags was an inadequate response to the community’s concerns.
Residents have been posting on social media that they want the street flags to display the te reo Māori name for Lyttelton, Ōhinehou.
ChristchurchNZ’s change comes after it said two weeks ago there was no budget to change the wording of the flags. But the Canterbury flags appear to have come at no cost. They have been dragged out of storage.
The Canterbury flags were flown in Lyttelton last year before being replaced with the Christchurch and Ōtautahi ones.
Said Lyttelton resident John McLister: “So in response to Lyttelton wanting a flag that represents the town, ChristchurchNZ gets the Crusaders flags out of storage.
“If the lads were coming to the port for a game, great. But as this is unlikely. Again we have flying in the heart of the village something of no relevance to our place.
“Time to flag it Christ-churchNZ.”
Tahau-Paton said the red and black flags were “pretty generic.”
Last year, she spoke to to Deputy Mayor and Banks Peninsula Ward city councillor, Andrew Turner, about whether the Canterbury flags would be replaced.
Tahau-Paton said other business owners were not surprised with the generic flag replacement.
“It is the council’s attempt to keep the peace,” she said.
Turner met with ChristchurchNZ last week and now believed the main issue had now been resolved.
“The immediate problem has been solved by replacing the Ōtautahi flags with something more generic,” he said.
“The reality is that currently there are not Lyttelton specific flags available at the moment.
“Other parts of the city may expect something more specific then too if the flags were Lyttelton specific.
“If the opportunity for Lyttelton specific flags arose in the future, I would welcome this discussion.”
He was pleased ChristchurchNZ had taken on the community’s concerns and had acted quickly in resolving the main issue.
“This shows the value of community involvement and the importance of the community speaking out and sharing their concerns,” Turner said.
A ChristchurchNZ spokesperson said: “We are continually assessing our street banners strategy, including how we may incorporate the individual character of city’s various localities.”
