Ashley Campbell
Ko Ngā Kohatu Whakarakaraka te maunga
Ko Ōtākaro te awa
Ko Zealandia te waka
Kōtimana ko Airihi me Ingarihi nga iwi
Ko Ōtautahi te kainga
Ko Ashley Campbell taku ingoa
Christchurch North East/Ōrei is my turangawaewae
I grew up in Bexley, beside the Ōtākaro/Avon River, and went to school in New Brighton, Shirley, and Aranui. After university, I followed my dreams to London and then Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, where I lived for 16 years.
The February 22 earthquake destroyed the home I grew up in, which my parents were still living in. When the red zone was announced in June 2011 I started the campaign for the area to be returned to nature.
I returned to Ōtautahi/Christchurch in 2013 to devote myself to the campaign. I was a founding member of Avon-Ōtākaro Network, and founder of Greening the Red Zone. I later became a member of Te Tira Kāhikuhiku, the Red Zones transformative land use consultative group, which advised LINZ and the Christchurch City Council on temporary land uses.
I am a trustee of Smith Street Community Farm and live in Linwood.
I want to work with nature to face the challenges of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.
I am standing as an independent. My loyalty is to the environment and the people of our ward, not to any political party.
(Photo: watering some of the first plants to go into Brooker Reserve, Burwood, in 2015.)