SDG Target 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

The present situation and issues

Based on evidence gleaned from our Vision questionnaire, this section examines the public services and facilities that were seen as most important to local Canterbury residents and that have not been fully discussed elsewhere in this Vision. Most of these public services are those provided via local or county level government, but due to the present government instigated austerity measures there is notable concern that some of the services or facilities are being depleted or are reliant on voluntary participation. In an advanced society this range of public provision would be recognised as a norm and thus a city such as Canterbury should continue with their future provision. Here the issues are simply stated relative to the main facilities or services mentioned in the questionnaire, followed by future recommendations that might be needed:

• Car parking. Despite the wide range of parking facilities in Canterbury, parking cars remains a challenge for the authorities. Space is at a premium for residential parking and extensive use has been made of front gardens. On street parking is mostly regulated by parking permits for residents or by on street meter charging for visitors, and shoppers. Financially the Council relies heavily on these remittances from parking, but high charges to customers appears to be a non-sustainable solution in a city which simply has better uses for valuable city centre land. Indeed the City Council is intending to progressively close some inner city car parks.
• Tourist information. Over recent decades the city has had problems with establishing a clearly identified location providing for visitor information. Although the move to the Beaney building may have temporarily solved this problem, the location is far from an ideal long-term solution. Signage for tourists is rather limited because there is no desire to clutter the city centre further with signs. With a number of larger retail premises becoming vacant along the main thoroughfare, it should not be too difficult to find a better location for a tourist information office.
• Activities for younger people. Because of the wide range of potential activities, plus age differences, diverse providers and the distraction now caused through the Internet, the provision of activities for young people are often a difficult provision. However, there are many indications that better provision must be secured for activities that especially appeal to teen-agers.
• Sports facilities. For health and other reasons sport participation is important. The general sport provision in Canterbury is reasonable but it is of concern that sport and/or physical training has declined as a school activity, and this situation needs urgent reversal. The city’s two main universities both have wide ranging sports venues and the Canterbury cricket, hockey and rugby clubs appear to thrive. Other dedicated centres are provided by some of the secondary schools plus a range of private facilities but some sports activities are not well catered for. Thus, after more than a decade of searching, obtaining a base for the Canterbury Football club has still to be achieved.
• Public toilets. Over the last decade city public toilet provision has significantly reduced. Increasing reliance must now be made on private facilities in supermarkets, larger shops, railway stations, restaurants and public houses. For a city with very high visitor numbers this is not a satisfactory situation.
• Waste collection. Given the quantities involved and the varied nature of “waste”, its collection gives rise to numerous “niggles”. Many residents have justifiable problems with the sorting of waste, and many premises have insufficient room to store council collection bins. There needs to be a more progressive move to waste reduction, i.e. whereby many of the items now thrown away can be viewed as a resource in some alternative use. Constant reliance on landfill cannot be sustainable.
• School education provision. The range of schools in Canterbury is wide and in most cases their education provision is of a high standard. However, austerity measures are biting into this provision causing resources and staff reductions. The future may see a need for increasing voluntary parental inputs. Part of the provision problem includes the large amount of school bussing or car travel that is necessary because provision throughout the Canterbury District is non-optimal and because parents have freedom of choice on where to send their children to schools. This transporting adds very considerably to traffic congestion problems.
• Quality of roads and pavements. The recent rapidly deteriorating decline in road and pavement quality has led to considerable public concern. The present unending patching repairs cannot be sustained and presently there are few road/footpath repair actions that are likely to be either sustainable or that will bring about improvements.
• Library services. The library service in Canterbury has always been good and since the refurbishment of its accommodation in the Beaney building, the service has been further enhanced. However there is a good argument to be made that a major public library could benefit from having its own identity and that libraries in Canterbury’s surrounding larger villages should be sustained.

A vision for the future must include ideas and suggestions on how these facilities and services could best be enhanced. The recommendations or strategies below give pointers to how improvements could be made though it is recognised that readers may have additional ideas.