Going for Goals committees set up

Press, 27 April 1989, Page 3

Going for Goals committees set up

By

DAVID CLARKSON

Three task force committees to implement the ideas from Christchurch’s Going for Goals forum at Queen’s Birthday Week-end were set in motion last evening.

Two more committees will be brought together this evening, at the second of two public meetings in which areas for coverage .in the two days of talks at the Town Hall are being set.

The organisers of the event are adamant that the forum will be as informal as possible. They are also unsure how many people will attend the sessions that will signify how the community views its own future, and sets its plans for growth and prosperity. The chairman of Going for Goals, Mr Alan Shadwell, said the organisers had first thought that 1000 people might go to the forum. “But with the extraordinary amount of public interest, we can see ourselves being deluged,” he said last evening.

The core executive organising the project has settled on five task force committees, which will collate the information

and ideas that come out of the first day of the forum, on June 3. When it is over, they will have the job of implementing the plans. The business development area attracted the most interest at last evening’s session. Thirty-two of those present were interested in that session, seven were interested in the transport task force’s work, and 13 sought involvement in primary resources. Names of willing committee members have been taken, and the committees will now begin work on appointing chairmen and approaching experts willing to be present during the forum. ' The Christchurch City promotions director, Miss Gillian Wess, said the forum would get a general flow of interesting notions and creativity going, and would produce a ' list of recommendations. “But the task force committees are the work-

ing heart of Going for Goals. They will be responsible for transforming citizens’ recommendations into specific goals, plans, results and action. They are working bodies on behalf of the city.

"There are no barriers to members. We want to have a mixture of experts, but it is probably more important to have enthusiasm, commitment and a desire to bring about change, to make things happen,” she said. ■ The progress of the task force committees would be monitored to ensure that the goals were reached, and that the energy did not simply dissipate.

The executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr lan Shrimpton, said the Going for Goals project was “about generating new confidence in Christchurch.”

“Christchurch is leading the rest of New Zealand on this. The rest of New Zealand is looking very

hard at what we are doing,” he said. Last evening’s meeting went through the sub-sec-tions that would be covered by the three task force committees. The areas were: Transport Task Force — Air helicopter, aero club, Wigram air base, aircraft engineering; road transport, Automobile Association, bus operators, Ministry of Transport, couriers, taxis, rental car operators; rail, port. Primary Resources Task Force — Pastoral, horticulture, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, minerals, energy, Antarctic, water, and weather.

Business Development — manufacturing, tourism, retailers, wholesalers and direct marketers, services, exporters and importers, and the construction industry. This evening’s meeting is to consider the areas of education, technology and information services.