Amberley has the chance to build a highway bypass and a central town square that will: 1) vastly improve the quality of life for its residents. 2) make Amberley a more attractive stopover for passing tourists - particulalry those visiting Waipara\'s wineries. 3) remove a frustrating bottleneck for travellers on State Highway 1. 4) provide a larger and more appropriate site for the development of supermarkets and other businesses. A plan change is now before the Hununui District Council that proposes a highway bypass which runs through the riverbed land to the South West of the town and then north along the railway siding. On this low lying riverbed land, beside the new bypass, the plan proposes construction of a retail and industrial park that can accomodate a large supermarket and all of the other retail and agricultural service businesses that wish to be within Amberley and yet also beside State Highway 1. The plan also proposes the establishment of a large town square in the very centre of Amberley, lcoated where the recylcing depot and Mobil station currently stand, around which the town\'s internal traffic will flow slowly clockwise on a one-way road. This square will provide a focal point for the town around which cafes and shops can be located for residents and visitors to enjoy. The window of opportunity to make Amberley more than an ugly road town is closing fast - because the bare land on which the Bypass, retail park and town square could be built is rapidly being built upon. NZ State Highway 1, which currently passes through Amberley\'s centre, is getting busier every year. The constantly increasing volume of freight trucks, rubbish trucks and cars passing through the town will make Amberley an increasingly unpleasant and dangerous place to live. It will always discourage the large numbers of passing tourists from ever stopping and spending their money in Amberley. The Hurunui District Council has the opportunity now to create a much better town for present and future generations, and it need not cost a great deal. The creation of the new retail park on the bare riverbed land and the creation of the valuable town square facing sections on what is now effective wasteland in the recylcing depot will provide the council with significant capital gains and increased income from rates for years to come. Some residents fear that losing State Highway 1 from Amberley\'s main street will cost their businesses passing trade. The exact opposite will be true if the retail park and town square are well developed. These people should also realise that in the long run, State Highway 1 will be moved from Amberleys main street. Amberley is an increasing congestion problem that must eventually be solved. A bypass will be built - and the larger the town has grown before it is - the further out the bypass will utlimately be. The sooner a bypass happens the closer State Highway 1 will ultimately remain to the centre of Amberley. So please sign up and support some forward thinking planning. YOU CAN VIEW THE FULL PROPOSAL AT http://www.filefactory.com/file/1d9ffe/n/Amberley_Bypass_doc\">Amberley Bypass.doc

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