Reality bites: RoNS will bankrupt the nation
The government’s mega-roads programme is now looking to cost an astonishing $40-50 billion, based on new documents released yesterday by the NZTA.
On Monday, Transport Minister Chris Bishop touted the fact that $1.2 billion would be spent towards funding for design, consenting and property acquisition for six of the projects.…
114 Comments Auckland Council’s 2025 Elections: Initial Results
We now have our first glimpse of the shape of the new council following the local body election on Saturday. The results emerge in three stages: “progress results” landed on Saturday afternoon, and “preliminary results” on Monday afternoon, with special votes (and thus the final outcomes) to come on Friday.…
What this local election means for transport in Auckland
Connor Sharp is running for the Waitematā Local Board in this year’s election. On Saturday (pending any close-run races), we’ll learn who will govern our city for the next three years.
While the mayoral race feels like a foregone conclusion – to the point there’s barely even any media coverage of it – who else will be sitting around the council table, and who will sit on the various local boards, will have a big impact on the city’s future.…
Time to get off the gas
With energy policy and the cost of power in the headlines this week, here’s a timely guest post by regular reader, and freelance Business Analyst specialising in pricing and operations management, Stephen Reynolds. (Header image: Wikimedia, CC-BY-SA4.0) Many New Zealanders view exhausting our fossil fuel reserves as inevitable and enabling us to move on from the emissions they generate.…
Auckland Transport No More
Mayor Wayne Brown has spent much of his time in office bemoaning the role of Wellington in how Auckland plans for the future often saying “Wellington needs to stop planning Auckland“. But on Friday he happily handed control of the city’s transport future over to Wellington, labelling it “a major victory for the people of Auckland“.…
Improving Local Government Representation in New Zealand
This is a guest post by Malcolm McCracken. It previously appeared on his blog Better Things Are Possible and is shared by kind permission. Local government elections in New Zealand face persistent challenges with low voter turnout and a shortage of candidates. …
The City Rail Link is a bargain…
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the City Centre Advisory Panel and is running for council in the Waitematā & Gulf ward in this years local elections.
As the City Rail Link (CRL) nears completion amid talk of city deals and rates caps, I thought it worth looking at what that project can tell us about the nation-city relationship.…
The Government’s Northern Expressway Obsession
On Saturday there were some interesting discussions on TVNZ’s Q+A programme with Jake Tame about infrastructure with Minister Chris Bishop and Infrastructure Commission Te Waihanga chief executive Geoff Cooper.
In his discussion with Chris Bishop, Tame covers a range of topics from his various portfolios, many of which probably of interest, such as the impact of the government’s policies on the construction industry, on city deals and the government pushing councils towards asset sales, housing and in particular his response to the op-ed from Christine Fletcher late last week.…
How to fill Council’s climate leadership vacuum
This is a guest post by Heidi O’Callahan, about one way to improve the sorry state of climate leadership in Auckland.
For a frank and fair assessment of where Auckland is at, have a read of the Committee for Auckland’s recent report The State of the City, as covered by Patrick here.…
Christchurch’s mass-transit future: How long will the city wait and what will it look like?
This is a guest post by Brendon Harre. It’s the fourth and final part in a series about Christchurch, it’s history, and what needs to change to fix it’s transport woes and this part has been published on Brendon’s medium.
You can read part one here, part two here, and part three here.…
Processing...