The Basin Reserve is now in mortal danger.
Yesterday Transport Minister Steven Joyce announced a massive roading project, running from Levin in the north to the Airport in the south, that will cost taxpayers more than $2.5 billion, disrupt communities, demolish homes, and destroy the Basin Reserve as a test cricket venue. Within the Wellington CBD It includes the construction of a flyover at the Basin, two tunnels at The Terrace and Mt Victoria, a four-lane expressway across the city, the four-laning of Ruahine Street, and much more.
The reason for this profligate spending and wanton destruction is that the trip from one end of the Road of National Significance to the other - the full Levin to airport journey - will allegedly take 25 minutes less. From this very ordinary time-saving, the road-centric traffic engineers have extrapolated all manner of hypothetical economic benefits, most of which are based on outdated assumptions and discredited research. And in this calculus of destruction, the heritage of the Basin and it's value as one of the worlds best test cricket venues is essentially worthless.
So it's time to stand up and fight for the Basin. Since the early 1900s, various local and central government politicians have attempted to run roads through, over and under the Basin. At every turn, the people of Wellington have defeated them, and kept the Basin Reserve as the green space and world-class cricket venue it is today.
But Steven Joyce's white elephant of a flyover is the greatest attack on its integrity the Basin has ever been subjected to. It comes from a government determined to build roads at all costs, that accepts money from trucking lobbyists, and which is driven by an Auckland-based minister who cares nothing for the heritage values and urban fabric of the capital.
More information on how to take action is coming soon. But it's time to get angry about this flagrant and arrogant attack on the Basin Reserve.
At a recent conference I was lucky enough to hear John Minto speak about social change and activism. His argument was that rational argument only ever takes you so far. While I'm generally more in favour of attempting to work with people and organisations such as the NZTA and Minister Steven Joyce, I think that John Minto's advice is perfect for this situation: we have a MInister and organisation that are making completely irrational decisions. So, I agree, it is time to get angry and do all that we can to show the MInister and NZTA that their plans for the Basin Reserve are simply out-dated, short-sighted and not what the residents of Wellington want.