Thoughts on a Transport Accord
Over recent days and weeks the suggestion of an agreement between the Council and the Government – a Transport Accord similar to the Housing Accord agreed to in 2013 – have grown stronger and stronger. It’s easy to see why an accord would be desired from both parties.…
Council and Government fight over sprawl
The Auckland Council and the government have locked horns over the council rejecting three greenfield Special Housing Area (SHA) developments in the North West of Auckland. At the heart of the matter is who should pay for the infrastructure needed to support the development.…
Additional Harbour Crossing back on agenda
The government has announced it is restarting the process to protect the route for an a third harbour crossing that raises a huge number of questions. Minister of Transport, Simon Bridges, has taken steps to future-proof the route for an additional Waitemata Harbour crossing in view of the rapid growth Auckland is set to undergo in the next 20 years.…
2014 – A Year in Review Part 4 – Everything else
In this fourth post reviewing the 2014 I’ll look at the topics not already covered.
Central Government Election
2014 was dominated – either directly or indirectly by the central government elections which is not surprising considering how much impact the government has on transport and urban policy.…
2014 – A Year in Review Part 3 – Roads
In the third in my series of posts wrapping up the year I will look at what’s happened with roads this year.
Roads of National Significance
The RoNS have continued as they did last year with one notable exception.
Western Ring Route
The Western Ring Route works are in full flight now as will be evidenced to anyone who drives along SH16 with roadworks in place from east of Western Springs all the way through Northwest of Lincoln Rd from 5 separate projects.…
Simon Bridges new Minister of Transport
John Key announced his new cabinet line up today and of most interest to this blog is that we have a new Minister of Transport in the form of Simon Bridges. His other portfolios of Minister of Energy and Resources and Associate Minister for Climate Change Issues could provide for some interesting synergies should he choose to explore them – our current transport system relies heavily on the use of extracted resources and is a major contributor to climate change issues.…
4th batch of Special Housing Areas Announced
Yesterday the council and government announced the next batch of Special Housing Areas. These are the areas that are able to use a fast tracked consenting processes and for which the Unitary Plan rules (with a few conditions) come in to effect immediately.…
Not all regional road projects bad
We recently highlighted a blog post by Rob Salmond looking at the government’s regional roads package. Rob based his post on the results of an OIA request to the minister for briefing papers he had received on the projects and noted:
Five of the roading projects receive the worst kind of assessment from the officials at NZTA, an estimated benefit cost ratio of “0 to 2.”…
$212 million in spending on roads with few benefits
A couple of days ago I received a bunch of documents from an OIA request to the NZTA on the $212 million in regional road spending announced recently. I haven’t been able to look at them yet seeing as I’m away however it looks like I’m not going to have to go through them immediately as Rob Salmond is already on the case following a similar (but not exactly the same) request to the Ministers office.…
Taskforce to Tackle Loopy Rules
The National Party have announced that if they’re re-elected they’ll form a taskforce to tackle loopy rules and regulations.
Local Government Minister Paula Bennett today announced the establishment of a new Taskforce to rid New Zealand of loopy rules and regulations.…
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