chch.live a suburb, in depth

Saint Martins, Christchurch

3,380 council reports since June 2015, the 43rd busiest suburb in the city. 2,696 photographs on record.

Reports, all time
3,380
In the year to 12 Oct 2026
430
Busiest in Christchurch
43rd
Photographs
2,696

The record also holds about $640 a week to rent 2023 Census snapshot 2,696 photographs 2 old photographs 2 schools 3 parks 2 places of worship 16 tracks 1 name on the map 47.8% of the outline mapped liquefied graded mostly TC2 in 2011 the record drew water over 10% of the outline slope-hazard bands cover 4% of the outline the Ngāi Tahu schedule covers 2% of the outline ecological sites over 2% of the outline landscape schedules over 2% of the outline high flood hazard over 3% of the outline setback strips over 9% of the outline 9% of the outline inside the plan’s density overlays 2,517 SCIRT photographs filed on this ground 6.7 km of cycleway crosses the outline 5 remembered names on this ground 8 drawn rules bind this ground 6 parcels on the dangerous-work register 44 parcels of made ground 58 surveyed rocks 7 parcels with a cleanup on file the 2019 model grades this ground mostly medium 6 council structures on the register 891 trees on the register the plan’s word on this ground 4% of the outline reserved 1 place on the heritage schedule 4 epicentres inside the outline 76 injury crashes 739 recorded victimisations 18 bus stops 27 businesses the council’s fix times alcohol ban over 19% of the outline 1 heritage place 40 documents

See it on the map Its decade, charted

Living here rent · the ground · the day-to-day

$640/week middle half $550–$698

New bonds here ran at about $640 a week in the April–June 2026 quarter, the middle half of them between $550 and $698, across 12 bonds lodged, up 16% on a year ago. That’s about $90 a week above the city’s own quarter median of $550. Tenancy Services counts these under the “St Martins” statistical area, close to this suburb’s outline, not exactly it.

Median and quartiles of weekly rents on new private bonds, by quarter. New bonds are fresh lodgements, not the whole rental stock; under five bonds the rent is withheld, and counts are randomly rounded. Source: Tenancy Services rental bond data: provisional while the bond system migrates.

The ground: the February 2011 survey drew liquefaction over 48% of it; the 2011 grading filed it mostly TC2, the rest of the watch is drawn further down.

Day to day it holds 2 schools, 3 parks, 2 places of worship, 16 tracks and 18 bus stops, each is counted further down.

Lately the record’s mostly water & drains, 430 reports in the year to 12 October 2026, the newest 10 October 2026.

One for the quiz, Its busiest day on record was 12 September 2022, 18 reports in a single day.

2023 Census snapshot SA1 areas grouped here

People
2,802
Under 15
19%
65 and over
18%
Occupied households
1,149

About 2,802 people and 1,149 occupied private households in the “St Martins” statistical area, grouped from 19 SA1 areas. This exact statistical-area match is close to this suburb’s outline, not exactly it.

More of the 2023 Census
  • Born overseas23% of stated birthplace
  • European ethnicity88% of ethnicity responses
  • Māori ethnicity10% of ethnicity responses
  • Pacific Peoples ethnicity4% of ethnicity responses
  • Asian ethnicity6% of ethnicity responses
  • Households with internet87% of stated households
  • Households with two or more vehicles49% of stated households

Ethnicity is a multiple-response measure, so those percentages are not meant to add to 100%.

Stats NZ’s 2023 Census uses fixed random rounding to base 3. Unavailable or confidential cells are left out, not treated as zero. individuals · households · geography · CC BY 4.0.

As reported 2,696 on record

19 Ombersley Tce189 Wilsons Road South, St Martins98 St Martins RdSt Martins Rd24 St Martins Rd258 Riverlaw Tce 2,696 photographs
on the wall →

The suburb, back then 2 in the archive

Corner of Centaurus and Wilsons Road, St Martins, 1941Saint Martins, Christchurch, 1974 2 photographs
from back when →

Placed by the record’s locality join or the name in its own title, a lead, not a claim each frame stood here.

The record on Saint Martins

Lately the newest reports

Water Leak19 Wilding Street

water leak, bad. we stripped footpath, hours later saw top of prep wet. excavated by hand and found old rusted galvanized pipe with roots galore. leaking…

Reports per year down 5% 2024→2025

What gets reported

Water & drains 917
Graffiti & vandalism 884
Roads & footpaths 637
Rubbish & dumping 459
Trees & parks 324
Vehicles & parking 75
Everything else 67
Animals & pests 16 Noise 1

Streets that keep coming up each a street page

Every street the archive knows in Saint Martins →

Exactly what people say

How fast the council fixes things here 4,646 finished jobs on record

The median council work order pinned in Saint Martins took 4 days to resolve, the city-wide median is 3 days, so this ground runs slower than the city as a whole. The slowest tenth waited 10 weeks or longer. 87 tickets are open here now, the oldest was filed 1 July 2021.

Work orders, not the resident reports above, the council’s MyCouncilTicket stream, and one job can appear in both. A median counts only finished jobs; open ones are named as open, never averaged in. The ticket roll · the whole city’s fix times.

Alcohol rules on this ground one ban zone reaches in

South Colombo. A public drinking ban, at all times, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, covers about 19% of Saint Martins.

2 sensitive sites stand here, Hillview Christian School, St Martins School, and the Local Alcohol Policy restricts new off-licences within 200 m of them.

The council’s bylaw zones and the Local Alcohol Policy’s buffer list, read from the Regulatory open-data service. A ban rules drinking in public places; it says nothing about whether a premises may sell, that is the licence register’s job.

The suburb today

Schools here 2

Zoned for Cashmere High School · Christchurch Adventist School · Hillview Christian School · Middleton Grange School · St Martins School · St Peter's School Te Kura Haoika · and 5 more zones, the drawn zone is indicative; the Ministry’s written scheme is the legal boundary.

Decile and EQI describe the community a school draws from, not how well it teaches.

The green here 3

Parks and reserves in the council’s open data, a park lands in the suburb its centre falls inside. The whole roll is at /parks.

Where the suburb worships 2

Places of worship in the open map’s record, one lands in the suburb its building stands in. The whole roll is at /worship.

The tracks through here 16

The first eight of 16, Tracks in the council’s open data, a line belongs to every suburb it passes through. The whole network is at /tracks.

The names on this ground 1

The February 2011 survey drew mapped ground failure over 47.8% of this outline, about 55 hectares. A patch is a footprint, not a finding about an address; the count for the whole city is at /liquefaction.

The 2011 grading filed 70.9% of this outline, about 82 hectares, mostly TC2, with TC3 21 ha · TC2 61 ha. A graded area files under the suburb its middle sits in, and a category is a verdict for a patch of ground, not a finding about an address; the grades are drawn at /technical-categories.

The flood record drew water over 10.1% of this outline, about 12 hectares, across 4 named events. A patch is one event’s observation, not a live hazard finding; the whole record is drawn at /floods.

The plan’s slope-hazard bands cover 4% of this outline, mass movement management area 2, rockfall management area 1, rockfall management area 2. The broad remaining-instability overlay covers 4% of it besides, the plan’s background watch over the hill country. Shares read from a sampled join; a management overlay, not a prediction. The whole watch is drawn at /slope.

6 parcels inside this outline sit on the hazardous-activities register, mostly cemeteries and waste recycling, treatment and disposal, chemical manufacture, application and bulk storage, vehicle refuelling, service and repair, 2 still doing the work. A listing records the work, not a soil test; the whole register is drawn at /hazards.

The files record 44 parcels of made or characterised ground inside this outline, mostly mixed fill with rubbish, silt, sand, 8 carry fill the file can’t vouch for. A record is the file’s word on what was laid, not a fresh survey; the whole layer is drawn at /fill.

The rockfall survey mapped 58 rocks inside this outline across 20 survey pins, 53 came down. A pin may stand for a cluster and marks where the survey saw the rock, not where it is now; the whole survey is drawn at /boulders.

7 parcels inside this outline carry a cleanup on the file, 7 marked verified. A cleanup on the file is the register’s word, not a clearance; the whole register is drawn at /remediated.

The 2019 liquefaction study put 43% of this outline in the medium class, and 4 assessed areas here carry the free-face flag for possible lateral spreading. A class is the model’s verdict on a patch of ground, not a finding about an address; the whole study is drawn at /vulnerability.

The council’s structure register stands 6 assets on this ground, 2 bridges, 2 ramps, 2 sets of steps, sited at Heathcote Riverbank Tr South, King George V Reserve, St Martins Public Library, Centaurus Park. The register’s site names are its own labels for the ground an asset stands in; the layer is drawn at the map.

The register counts 891 living trees inside this outline, 7 veterans among them, 4 carrying a protection, mostly Kowhai, Cabbage tree, Pin Oak. The file remembers 459 trees felled here. A tree record is the register’s word on what stands or stood; the whole canopy is drawn at /trees.

The plan files 54% of this outline under Residential Suburban, 72% residential, the rest mostly Transport 17%, Medium density residential zone 9%. A zone is a permission, not a description, the mix is read from a sampled join of the plan’s polygons; the whole district is drawn at /zones.

The plan reserves about 5 hectares of this outline, 4%, under 3 designations, mostly learning. A designation is a claim on the ground, not a build date, the mix is read from a sampled join; the whole register is drawn at /designations.

The plan’s heritage schedule protects 1 place by name in this suburb, Dwelling and Setting, Springbank. A setting is the ground the item stands in, each files under the suburb holding its centroid; the whole schedule is at /heritage.

The plan’s schedule of sites significant to Ngāi Tahu covers 2% of this outline, ngā wai. Shares read from a sampled join; a recognition overlay, not a catalogue. The whole schedule is drawn at /cultural.

The plan’s ecological schedules cover 2% of this outline across 1 scheduled site, all protected under Schedule A. Shares read from a sampled join; a recognition overlay, not a survey. The whole ledger is drawn at /ecology.

The plan’s landscape schedules cover 2% of this outline across 1 scheduled area. Shares read from a sampled join; a protection overlay, not a ranking of views. The kept view is drawn at /landscape.

The plan’s flood map draws 3% of this outline inside high flood hazard ground across 4 mapped areas. The broader flood-management watch covers 15% of it, Heathcote River. Shares read from a sampled join; a model’s map, not a promise. The waiting water is drawn at /flood-hazard.

The plan’s water-margin layers cross this outline, 31 classified reaches, the plan calling Heathcote / Opawaho River and Victory Drain Branch No 1 by name, 9% of it inside the setback strips, the widest holding 30 m off the bank. The margin is the plan’s drawing, not a survey of the bank; the reaches, strips and held edges are mapped at /water-margin.

The plan’s allowed shape holds this outline, 9% of it inside the residential overlays, the densest standing Suburban. The shape is the plan’s permission, not a survey of what stands; the allowed shape is drawn at /density.

The rebuild’s cameras filed 2,517 photographs on this ground, 2010–2016, stormwater work mostly. Each frame is a receipt the dig left behind, a work log, not a survey of what stands now; the whole record is drawn at /rebuild.

The pedal network threads this ground, 6.7 km of cycleway crosses the outline, Southern Lights. A segment counts under every suburb its path enters; the whole network is drawn at /cycleways.

The remembered names stand on this ground, 5 inscribed plaques, Heathcote Riverbank Tr South, St Martins Park among the grounds. The plaque is the register’s pin, not a surveyed spot; the whole roll is kept at /plaques.

The rulebook binds this ground, 8 drawn instruments, 1 alcohol ban, 7 bottle-store buffers; the outline sits inside the takiwā of Te Ngai Tuahuriri Runanga. The bylaw is the instrument, this the map of it, the whole rulebook is drawn at /rules.

GeoNet’s catalogue puts 4 magnitude-3+ epicentres inside this outline since the sequence opened, the biggest a M3.9 in 2014. An epicentre is where the instruments placed the break, not a measure of the shaking here; the whole catalogue is counted at /sequence, the live record is /quakes, and the story in plain language is the earthquakes explainer.

The named waterways, bays, headlands, monuments, summits and old sites OpenStreetMap puts inside this outline, a pin is the mapper’s own; a waterway belongs to every suburb it crosses. Every roll, counted: /geography.

The crash record 76 injury crashes

76 crashes that hurt somebody on record inside Saint Martins's outline, 12 seriously hurt, nobody killed.

The corner that keeps appearing: Centaurus Road at Ramahana Road, 5 injury crashes.

the suburb’s crashes on the map →

The crime record 739 recorded victimisations

739 victimisations on the Police record inside Saint Martins’s outline, September 2022–August 2026, mostly theft, about 66 a year per 1,000 residents. Down 2% on the year before. Reported is not all, how much never reaches the record depends on the offence.

the suburb on the crime map →

The buses through it 18 stops

18 Metro stops inside Saint Martins's outline, in ECan’s stop record, served by route 27, the Orbiter (anticlockwise), the Orbiter (clockwise).

Every route in the record →

Businesses here 27 in the directory

27 premises in Saint Martins across 19 kinds, from OpenStreetMap, the council’s licensed-premises register and its 2024 Find Christchurch directory. Each kind below opens at this suburb’s shelf.

Among them, the ones the record says most about:

The whole directory →

Before any of that

On the register here

  1. Dwelling and Setting, Springbank290 Riverlaw Terrace

Documents 40

What the archive’s sources say about Saint Martins, titled for it, turned up by a search for one of its places, or carrying its name in the text. These are leads and citations: the originals live at the provider, linked from each row.

METROPOLITAN ANTI-CORN LAW ASSOCIATION. (New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, 13 June 1843)…cal sections in the following order no i shall consist of the central association st anns st martins st margarets westminster no 11 whitechapel stepney wapping no til bethnalgreen shoreditch bishopsga…New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 12 Advertisements Column 3 (Lyttelton Times, 20 November 1852)Lyttelton Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 11 Advertisements Column 1 (Lyttelton Times, 06 August 1853)Lyttelton Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 3 Advertisements Column 2 (West Coast Times, 13 April 1866)…james greymouth leaseholder mawhera quay greymouth a s dreyer todhunter charles franklin saint martins near freeholder rural sec 7492 teremakau wm wilson christchurch thomson john greymouth leasehold…West Coast Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 4 Advertisements Column 2 (West Coast Times, 14 April 1866)…james greymouth leaseholder mawhera quay greyraouth a s dreyer todhunter charles franklin saint martins near freeholder rural sec 7492 tereraakau wm wilson christchurch thomson john greymouth leasehol…West Coast Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 4 Advertisements Column 7 (West Coast Times, 16 April 1866)…mouth hokitika hokitika hokitika hokitika addington near christ church hokitika greymouth saint martins near christchurch greymouth greymouth greymouth hokitika greymouth hokitika hokitika weld street…West Coast Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
Page 4 Advertisements Column 2 (West Coast Times, 17 April 1866)…james greymouth leaseholder mawhera quay greymouth a 8 dreyer todhunter charles franklin saint martins near freeholder rural sec 7492 teremakau wm wilson christchurch thomson john greymouth leasehold…West Coast Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, KANIERI. (West Coast Times, 31 January 1873)West Coast Times · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held
St Martins rural section planPlan showing properties in St Martins rural section. Heathcote Road Board rural sections…Heathcote Road Board rural sections · Canterbury Stories · Christchurch City Libraries ·
Page 1 Advertisements Column 6 (Star, 26 September 1882)…ley quarter acres and upwards close to ferry road tram hawford opawa l to 3 acre sections st martins opawa l acre up to 6 acres 244 lichfield btreet 3o perches with house 241 waltham ioad seotion with…Star · Papers Past · National Library of New Zealand · · text held

The rest are a search away, the whole shelf, for the name →

2 more documents came up in searches for Saint Martins's places and have not been read yet, a lead is a search result, not a fact, until somebody reads it.

Next door

OpawaBeckenhamHuntsburyHillsboroughWalthamSydenham

Compare Saint Martins with Opawa · Beckenham · Huntsbury · Hillsborough · Waltham · Sydenham, same record, side by side.

Questions, answered briefly

What is Saint Martins?

A suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, the public record holds 3,380 council reports for it, the first filed in June 2015.

How many people does the 2023 Census count for Saint Martins?

About 2,802 people and 1,149 occupied private households: grouped from Stats NZ SA1 areas through this site’s suburb join. Indicative, not a LIM.

What gets reported in Saint Martins?

3,380 reports on record, most often water & drains (917), graffiti & vandalism (884), roads & footpaths (637). 430 of them in the year to 12 October 2026.

How many crashes has Saint Martins had?

76 injury crashes on the police record inside the suburb’s outline, 12 seriously hurt, nobody killed. The suburb’s crashes, mapped →

Did earthquakes strike under Saint Martins?

GeoNet’s catalogue puts 4 magnitude-3+ epicentres inside the suburb’s mapped outline since the September 2010 mainshock, the biggest a M3.9 in 2014. An epicentre is where the instruments placed the break, not a measure of the shaking felt here. The whole sequence, counted → · The story, in plain language →

What did the earthquakes grade Saint Martins?

The 2011 technical categories filed 70.9% of the suburb’s outline, about 82 hectares, mostly TC2. TC1 meant standard foundations sufficed, TC2 enhanced, TC3 site-specific engineering, a verdict for the patch of ground, not a finding about any one address. The grades, drawn →

Every suburb in Christchurch → · Its decade, charted → · the whole A–Z →