Former Christchurch City Councillor and current Community Board Member Ali Jones has announced her candidacy for the Innes Ward, saying she is standing to fight rising rates and challenge ineffective transport policies.

Jones, who has also had a long career as a broadcaster and insurance advocate, said she was motivated to run after being urged by residents who are frustrated with the current state of the city.

“I want to make a difference, and a lot of people have been asking me to run,” she said. “Actually, I am really concerned about the rates in the city, across the city, it is becoming unaffordable for people, and I’m the sort of person that if I am unhappy with something, or I think something could or should change, then I try to do that, and I really can’t do that from around the community board table. So that’s it in a nutshell.”

Jones said keeping rates down would be a key priority but warned it could only happen if voters backed candidates with the same commitment.

“This election is really important in so far as people need to understand that they have to vote for people who want—if, for example, keeping rates down is residents’ and constituents’ main concern, they need to vote for people who put that in as part of their campaign, as a platform of part of what they’re campaigning for,” she said.

“There is no point in expecting rates to go down if you do not have the number of people around the table who can action that. And my commitment is to do that. I know there are others, and will be others, who will commit for the same thing or to the same thing, and I encourage people to support those people standing.”

“Speed bumps aren’t the answer”

Jones also took aim at the council’s approach to transport, calling out what she describes as a blanket, one-size-fits-all approach to speed bumps, bus lanes, and cycleways.

“I was going say I think there are places for them, but I can’t really think of any, except for outside schools and areas where there are children, and it is a pretty straight road,” she said. “I’m thinking of Heaton Street as an example there. But you know, that’s a 24/7 speed bump, and school is not in 24/7, so that really needs to be addressed.”

She questioned why speed bumps were being placed in locations where speed was not an issue. “We’ve got a speed bump going along McFaddens Road for goodness’ sake, in front of a pedestrian crossing where speed is not the issue,” she said. “Why would you use speed bumps for something that isn’t about speed?”

Jones said she believed the city had adopted speed bumps as a default solution without considering alternatives. “They seem to be a one-size-fits-all default answer to a number of problems, and I think that we need to think more innovatively and outside the box,” she said. “And until we do, we’re going to keep getting the same problems.”

Jones also questioned the city’s approach to bus lanes and cycleways, saying it was failing to solve congestion problems. “Look at Cranford Street. That’s a perfect example,” she said. “We’ve just put in a full-time bus lane down there, and the bus lane has been in for three years in a trial and not achieved anything. We’ve had an increase in congestion, and I’m really worried about the safety of kids down there. It’s right near a school.”

She said that when concerns were raised with council staff, the responses were often frustrating.

“The answer we get is that’s going to take too long, or we have to speak to NZTA about that, or we have to run a full trial for that,” she said. “I mean, we have to start being innovative and doing things that will make a difference. At the moment, we keep sticking the same plaster on the same sore, and it falls off all the time, and we need to be doing things differently.”

Jones said she would push for a full review of Christchurch’s transport policy, saying the city was failing to achieve its goals while wasting significant amounts of money.

“I think we as councillors need to say we want people to be able to get places effectively,” she said. “We need emergency vehicles to be able to move around safely and not be bouncing people around. And we need to look at the evidence of what these things are actually achieving or not.

“I’ve just come back from a few weeks in Australia, and okay, you’ve got to be really careful comparing with other countries. They are so different. Australia is massive. You’ve got extremely long roads there as well. But one thing I did notice, far fewer traffic lights, far fewer traffic lights, a lot more roundabouts.” She said roundabouts had been phased out in Christchurch, reportedly due to concerns about cyclist safety.

“I did drive in Sydney, and I found that the flow was better, and that was a combination of the phasing being better and also very clear signage.” She also criticised the inconsistency of speed limits in Christchurch.

“I actually think that the whole transport policy and the transport issues that we’re dealing with in Christchurch need to be completely reviewed and soon, because it’s costing a lot of money. I don’t think it’s achieving what it’s supposed to achieve. And both those things are really pretty much a waste of time, aren’t they?”

Jones said she expected critics to accuse her of being “anti-safety” or against cycling infrastructure, but she dismissed those claims.

“I’m not even going to go into that. You can’t waste your time in that sort of rhetoric, honestly,” she said. “All I want to do is for people to have respectful, intelligent conversations. This doesn’t have to be an argument. It doesn’t need to be, you know, slinging muck or calling people names or anything like that.”

“I’d work with her through gritted teeth”

With the Christchurch mayoral race shaping up as a contest between Phil Mauger and Sara Templeton, Jones was asked whether she could work with both candidates if elected.

“I know what I’m supposed to say here,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed working with Phil. He’s, you know, he’s actually with some of the infrastructural issues we’ve had in St Albans. He’s great at drawing on the back of an envelope or on the, you know, a napkin, and going, well, it can’t happen this way, or it should happen this way. He’s really good at getting down to the nub of an issue and speaking very plainly. And also, he’s a great—he’s a good team player. He pulls everyone together.”

As for Templeton, Jones was blunt.

“I have been in council, in the council chambers, when Sara has been there, and I just find her manner a little abrupt,” she said. “She and I have had some exchanges. And, yeah, look, I’d work with her—through gritted teeth, perhaps.”

“This election matters,” she said. “If you want change, you need to vote for the people who will make it happen.”