Community driving lessons in Christchurch’s red zone start tomorrow.

Learner drivers, 20 year olds Ben and Zoey, will have their initial driving lessons at the Nga Maata Waka-led driver training course.

The idea is the brainchild of Norm Dewes, who saw a shattered suburb in eastern Christchurch as a place for young people to build their confidence and their futures.

COVID-19 delayed his long-held dream a little, but from this week the first young drivers will experience the driver training track built in the earthquake-destroyed suburb, with the help of Fulton Hogan and a number of public agencies.

Norm, the CEO of Te Rununga o Nga Maata Waka and recipient of an MNZM for services to Maori and the community, has worked with the Police, Judiciary, Justice Department, Salvation Army, Red Cross, Corrections, refugee agencies and the private sector to create this opportunity to give people “a leg-up”.

“A driver’s licence is both a stepping stone to employment and an important step in keeping young, vulnerable people off a path to criminality,” he says.

Te Rununga o Nga Maata Waka has a five-year lease on the land in Shirley at no cost, and employs five fulltime driving instructors.

District Commander, Superintendent John Price says “This is exactly the sort of enlightened initiative that helps keep vulnerable young people on the path to employment, and away from pitfalls that can result from breaking the law.”

“So often young people’s first experience with the law is a driving offence, often through being unlicensed. In too many cases the problem compounds when they are unable to either pay the fine and / or they re-commit the offence and the consequences snowball from there,” John says.

“We are delighted to be part of a practical, community wide, private and public sector initiative that is an early intervention in breaking this cycle.”

The intention is that this eventually becomes an asset for the whole community.

“It’s a real source of support for us to have so many groups stepping in to help young people,” Norm Dewes says. “I’m always an optimist, but also realistic in knowing you can’t get anywhere on your own – you need a whole community.”

Fulton Hogan’s South Island General Manager Craig Stewart says it took only five minutes with Norm to begin to share his vision.

“One of the biggest hurdles to employment for many young people is a driver’s licence, and creating a private roading network for driver training will make a big difference,” Craig says. “We had the tools and the practical skills to help bring it to reality, and Norm and Nga Maata Waka’s deep commitment.”

The Nga Maata Waka-led driver training course will be used for a wide cross-section of the community, including (and in particular) those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford a drivers licence and/or who have been in difficulty with the law through not having one.

In that sense Ben and Zoey are ‘model’ students, both learning to drive through Nga Maata Waka.

Ben is studying graphic design and Zoe is in year three of a psychology degree at Canterbury University, their next step is to learn how to drive a manual car.

Ben and Zoey will be having their lesson at 12.30pm at the course off Kingsford Street.