Thanks to the good work of Cr Paul Bruce and like-minded colleagues, the Wellington Regional Council (Greater Wellington) has voted to re-examine all the options for the Basin reserve, thereby backing away from their previous vote in support for the flyover project. This means that neither the Wellington City Council nor Greater Wellington are in favour of the flyover that their supposed partners, the New Zealand Transport Agency, are trying to push through.
On Wednesday, a meeting of the Council voted 7 to 6 in favour of a motion by councillor Paul Bruce, which stated that “in light of the decision to place Buckle St in a tunnel, the council resolves that Greater Wellington should work with NZTA and [Wellington City Council] to ensure that the full range of options for freeing up public transport movements through the Basin Reserve are on the table”.
Instead, the Council has resolved to “work with the NZ Transport Agency and the Wellington City Council to ensure that the full range of options for freeing up public transport movements through the Basin Reserve are on the table.”
This is excellent news. The Wellington Regional Council has joined Wellington City Council in recognising that, at a time of declining traffic movements and growing concern about climate change, the flyover is an expensive, unnecessary and massively disruptive white elephant. Now we all need to work together to get that message through to NZTA and to the Government.
Media coverage
Wellington Scoop: Regional Council to reconsider its support for Basin Reserve flyover
Wellington Scoop: A second alternative to the flyover, and a change of heart by the Regional Council – the material about the new option developed by Richard Reid and Associates is particularly well worth reading.
Stuff (Dominion Post): Flyover debate reopened over ‘option X’
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