U-turn motel owner hopeful after meeting

The owner of 306 Motel Apartments in Christchurch is "hopeful" something might change after a community board meeting last week.

Star News published an article last week about Sally Ching’s 18-month battle with Christchurch City Council to try and stop the thousands of cars that did u-turns in her motel’s car park since the Ilam-Riccarton-Middleton intersection’s safety upgrade.

• 6000 U-turns and still counting

The Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board met and agreed a meeting should happen as soon as possible with members from the board, two traffic staff from the city council and Ching.

Community board member Helen Broughton suggested the meeting and saw it as a “special meeting we have with staff and Sally because I think there are solutions, I don’t believe we can’t find some solutions”.

Fellow board member Mark Peters visited Ching on Tuesday morning to see if anything had been done.

“Of which I said of course not,” Ching said.

Ching said she had spoken to all of the board members, and they had been very supportive.

“I have to be hopeful, I have to make an assumption that something is going to happen because otherwise what am I going to do,” she said.

“I have to be hopeful that someone can come and visit us ... that’s what I’m asking at the moment: that they come on-site, someone that actually has the power or the knowledge or the influence that they can actually help.”