Plan agreed to make Sumner mast lights less cross-like

The Waihoro Spreydon-Cashmere-Heathcote Community Board voted on August 28 to maintain current operating hours for the lights, but to explore options for a new configuration. The board had invited feedback on how LED lights, installed in December 2021, should operate and be configured.

Christchurch City Council received 943 submissions from 938 individuals and local groups. Many submitters praised the lights for their historical, heritage and maritime significance, as well as the enjoyment and sense of identity they bring to Sumner.

Others criticised the configuration, arguing it resembled a Christian cross and was culturally inappropriate.

When The Press spoke to residents about the lights in 2022, some felt the shape looked too Christian, and another said they were “imposing” and “in your face”.

During feedback, 161 submitters requested changes to reduce perceived religious symbolism, limit the lights on public holidays or remove them entirely.

Council staff recommended negotiating with the deed holder, the Breakfree Foundation, to implement the officials’ preferred option of reducing operating hours and forming a maritime mast shape, while noting in their report that “portions of the community . . . may view their concerns have not been addressed”, potentially resulting in further deputations or media attention.

Ultimately, the board accepted the staff recommendations but made two amendments – that the light’s hours remain the same and to explore more ecologically friendly lights.

Community board chair Callum Ward said potentially changing the shape to a maritime symbol came down to the community signalling it was a multicultural society, and that the symbol should reflect the values of the wider Sumner community and its strong ties to its maritime heritage.

“Obviously there’s been a lot of contention about the actual meaning of the symbol – to lots of people it looks like a Christian cross and other people insist it’s a maritime or ship’s mast,” he told Radio New Zealand.

The lights were first established in 1864 to guide boats over the Sumner bar into the Avon and Heathcote Rivers, and have been illuminated intermittently for more than a century. A new deed was established in 2020 with Christian charity Breakfree Foundation, allowing them to install, own and operate the lights.

Funds were raised by the community and solar-powered lights were installed in 2021, but with a shorter array of lights across the horizontal beam, which created the impression of a Christian cross.

FULL STORY

 Sumner cross lights to stay, but shape may change (By Elsie Williams and Tatiana Gibbs/The Press)

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