Council/Government battle heating up
It seems the fight between the council and the government is turning into an all-out war. The first front was on housing where Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith threatened to override the council who are refusing to approve three SHA’s in rural Kumeu because of a lack of supporting infrastructure.…
167 Comments TV3’s The Nation on Transport in Auckland
This morning TV3’s The Nation devoted most of its programme to the issue of Transport in Auckland. It featured a segment looking at transport including comment from Patrick and an interview with Minister of Transport Simon Bridges which was discussed with their panel.…
Does Auckland have an effective transport programme?
Yesterday the Council made a fairly momentous decision to adopt the ‘Interim Transport Programme‘ that enables significant extra investment in public transport, cycling and safety over the next three years. While this decision means a good transport programme can be pursued in the short-term, it doesn’t yet solve the longer term transport funding issue that Auckland faces.…
Simon Bridges speaks to Infratil
Last week Infratil – the owner of NZ Bus among other things – held their annual investor day and one of the speakers was Simon Bridges whose ministerial portfolio’s of Transport, Energy and Resources as well as being the Associate Minister of Climate Change cover a lot of Infratil’s businesses.…
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.…
Urban Cycleway Programme Launched
Yesterday the Minister of Transport announced the first of projects to receive funding as part of the government’s $100 million Urban Cycleway promise from the election last year.
Transport Minister Simon Bridges today announced the first $37 million worth of cycleway projects to be rolled out across the country as part of the Government’s Urban Cycleways Programme.…
The 2015-2025 Government Policy Statement Confirmed
Simon Bridges has released the final version of the 2015/16 – 2024/25 Government Policy Statement (GPS) following on from the draft version earlier this year. The GPS is effectively the top dog when it comes to transport funding and policy as in the words of the minister:
The Government Policy Statement on land transport (the GPS) sets out the Government’s strategic and policy goals for land transport, as well as the funding direction necessary to achieve them.…
CRL delay adds significant costs
The government’s stubborn attitude towards the City Rail Link is going to add $270 million to the council’s debt once it is eventually built. That is from a combination of increased inflation costs and the council having to pay in full for the early enabling works in full.…
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.…
The Holiday Highway’s health and education benefits?
Some more debate over the merits of the Puhoi-Wellsford “holiday highway” in parliament today, this time with Associate Transport Minister Simon Bridges answering questions from the Greens’ Julie-Anne Genter: You can read the transcript of the exchange here.
It’s refreshing to see someone actually try to answer the questions, rather than just throw abuse around, like Brownlee often does.…
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