Scarborough, Christchurch

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

The ground: 5% of the outline went into the residential red zone; the mapped tsunami reach covers 1% of it, the rest of the watch is drawn further down.

Day to day it holds 4 parks, each is counted further down.

Lately the record’s mostly water & drains, 112 reports in the year to 13 October 2026, the newest 10 October 2026.

One for the quiz, Its busiest day on record was 29 August 2022, 12 reports in a single day.

2023 Census snapshot SA1 areas grouped here

About the suburb

Scarborough is a hillside suburb above Sumner in Christchurch, New Zealand.

As reported 620 on record

620 photographs
on the wall →

The suburb, back then 7 in the archive

7 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 shape of it outline © OpenStreetMap · recent reports, pinned

Lately the newest reports

10 Oct 2026 Hazard, vehicle21 Scarborough Rd

Car parked in yellow lines

9 Oct 2026 Abandoned Vehicle3 Heberden Avenue

abandoned car..trashed and broken glass near path, next to children's playground. according to neighbours this car has been there for months. now broken into.

28 Sept 2026 Graffiti on a road, footpath or bridge23 Scarborough Road

23 Sept 2026 Pavement - General31 Taylors Mistake Road

footpath needs sealing

18 Sept 2026 Facility - General RequestCanterbury

Sign has deteriorated in walkway -from Sumner to Taylor’s Mistake. Thanks Michelle

14 Sept 2026 Street Gutters / Storm Water53 Scarborough Road

Higgins contractors had 4 traffic control vehicles and a tip truck with a crew cleaning gutters but somehow managed to miss 2 big rocks and a 20m continuous…

7 Sept 2026 Street Gutters / Storm Water82 Scarborough Rd

Drain block … and drain grill also blocked

24 Aug 2026 Water Leak23 Godley Drive

water emerging at kerb. suspect water main leak.

23 Aug 2026 Street Gutters / Storm Water2 Scarborough Road

the drain on the way to the boat ramp is under a large amount of dirt. it is next to the yellow line. estimated 1 cu meter of soil and sediment in this…

16 Aug 2026 Water Leak17 Godley Drive

water leak from grass verge across footpath getting worse. outside 17 Godley Drive

16 Aug 2026 Accessibility2 Scarborough Rd

Ramp at sumner breaking up. Requires fix plse

12 Aug 2026 Graffiti on a fence, building or structureNicholson Park 142 Scarborough Road

Flowers track: on fence railing

How fast the council fixes things here 1,429 finished jobs on record

The median council work order pinned in Scarborough took 7 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 5 months or longer. 62 tickets are open here now, the oldest was filed 25 October 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.

Schools here

Zoned for Christchurch Adventist School · Hillview Christian School · Marian College · Middleton Grange School · St Thomas of Canterbury College · Sumner School · and 2 more zones, the drawn zone is indicative; the Ministry’s written scheme is the legal boundary.

The green here 4

• Whitewash ReserveRegional · 9 ha
• Nicholson Park4 ha · playground, 4 pieces
• Giants NoseRegional · 2 ha
• Sea Spray Reserve

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.

The names on this ground 5

The Crown’s 2011 classification drew 4.7% of this outline inside the residential red zone. A mapped area files under the suburb its middle sits in, and a classification is the record of a decision, not a finding about an address; the whole line is drawn at /redzone.

The mapped tsunami extent covers 1% of this outline. The sea’s modelled reach, not a prediction, the plan’s inundation line, not the evacuation zones; the share is read from a sampled join. The whole extent is drawn at /tsunami.

The plan’s slope-hazard bands cover 9% of this outline, about 6 hectares, cliff collapse management area 2, mass movement management area 1. The broad remaining-instability overlay covers 85% 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.

The files record 23 parcels of made or characterised ground inside this outline, mostly compacted hardfill, loess, buried topsoil. 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 457 rocks inside this outline across 93 survey pins, 381 came down, 31 still wobble easy. 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.

The 2019 liquefaction study put 31% of this outline in the "unlikely" class, 34% of the outline fell inside an assessed area. 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 39 assets on this ground, 32 sets of steps, 3 boat ramps, 2 boardwalks, 1 ramp, sited at Whitewash Reserve, Nicholson Park, Marriner St And Flowers Track, Port Hills 10 Rrz Land. 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 280 living trees inside this outline, 2 veterans among them, 3 carrying a protection, mostly Maritime pine, Blue Atlas Cedar, Radiata Pine (w). The file remembers 123 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 60% of this outline under Residential Hills, 60% residential, the rest mostly Transport 13%, Open Space Coastal 8%, 94% of the outline fell inside a mapped zone. 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’s schedule of sites significant to Ngāi Tahu covers 100% of this outline, about 69 hectares, ngā tūranga tūpuna, ngā wai. Shares read from a sampled join; a recognition overlay, not a catalogue. The whole schedule is drawn at /cultural.

The plan’s landscape schedules cover 19% of this outline, about 13 hectares across 4 scheduled areas, 12% of it outstanding, the plan’s strongest landscape standing, and 64% of it sits inside the coastal environment. Shares read from a sampled join; a protection overlay, not a ranking of views. The kept view is drawn at /landscape.

No high-hazard flood area covers this outline. The broader flood-management watch covers 1% of it, Sumner. 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, 17 classified reaches, the plan calling Scarborough Outfall and Highview Lane Drain by name, 5% of it inside the setback strips, the widest holding 20 m off the bank, and an esplanade line holds a public edge here. 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 rebuild’s cameras filed 132 photographs on this ground, 2012–2015, 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, 1.9 km of cycleway crosses the outline, Te Ara Ihutai Coastal Pathway. A segment counts under every suburb its path enters; the whole network is drawn at /cycleways.

The remembered names stand on this ground, 13 inscribed plaques, Nicholson Park, Whitewash Reserve, Scarborough Beach 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, 10 drawn instruments, 9 of them dog rules, 1 alcohol ban; 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 5 magnitude-3+ epicentres inside this outline since the sequence opened, the biggest a M4.2 in 2011. 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.

• Giants Noseheadland
• Moki Pointheadland
• Sumner Headheadland
• Whitewash Headheadland
• Sumner Boating & Fishing Club Jettyjetty

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 3 injury crashes

3 crashes that hurt somebody on record inside Scarborough's outline, 2 seriously hurt, nobody killed.

The corner that keeps appearing: Heberden Avenue at Esp, 1 injury crash.

the suburb’s crashes on the map →

The crime record 114 recorded victimisations

114 victimisations on the Police record inside Scarborough’s outline, September 2022–August 2026, mostly theft, about 8 a year per 1,000 residents. Up 213% on the year before. Reported is not all, how much never reaches the record depends on the offence.

the suburb on the crime map →

Businesses here 2 in the directory

2 premises in Scarborough across 2 kinds, from OpenStreetMap, the council’s licensed-premises register and its 2024 Find Christchurch directory. Each kind below opens at this suburb’s shelf.

• Association1
• Harbour Master1

The whole directory →

On the register here

1. Sumner Clock Tower and Setting147R Esplanade

Documents 40

What the archive’s sources say about Scarborough, 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.

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

The wire on Scarborough 4 lately

The whole wire →

Next door

Compare Scarborough with Sumner · te-onepoto-taylors-mistake · Richmond Hill · Clifton · Moncks Bay · Redcliffs, same record, side by side.

Questions, answered briefly