Category: Flyover

Basin Flyover Submission Process

Posted on by tjonescan

The submission process for NZTA’s proposed Basin Reserve flyover has now been announced. You’ll find all the details on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Information for Submitters page and their downloadable Basin Bridge Information Sheet, but here are the main points:

  • The deadline for submissions is 5pm on Friday 6 September 2013.
  • You can make submissions online, by email, by fax, by post or by delivering in person. Details of these options are contained in the Information Sheet.
  • You can make an online submission, but we recommend that that you email your submission (if it’s less than 10MB) to basinbridge@epa.govt.nz. You are also required to cc it to NZTA: greg.lee@nzta.govt.nz. Please also cc it to Save the Basin: stoptheflyover@gmail.com.
  • The subject line of your submission is required to read “Submission [your name], Basin Bridge Proposal” (but we still think you should call it a flyover in every other context!)

We’ll be producing a submission guide and putting it up here soon, but the key points are:

  • Submit
  • Encourage friends and colleagues to submit
  • Say that you are completely opposed to the proposed flyover
  • Cover the reasons you are opposed to the flyover – you can’t introduce new areas later
  • Ask to speak at the hearing, and say that you want to present your case individually, not jointly. (If you later find out you can’t appear, there won’t be any repercussions for you.) If you do ask to appear in person, you can prepare additional evidence – but it can only expand on the areas you discussed in your original submission, not cover new areas. And only people who have submitted by 5pm on Friday 6 September 2013 get the chance to appear and present additional evidence.

Remember – we have had to listen to NZTA’s spin and lies for far too long. This hearing is the time when they have to sit there and listen to us. Let’s make the most of it.

Dominion Post Puts The Wind Up NZTA’s Flyover Plans

Posted on by tjonescan

In a front-page story today the Dominion Post raised serious questions about the safety of the proposed Basin Reserve flyover in strong wind conditions. Journalist Tessa Johnstone drew attention to the statement in NZTA’s own resource consent application documents that wind gusts in the middle of the one-way flyover could be “extremely high” and NZTA’s admission that pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and the drivers of high-sided vehicles (e.g. vans and light trucks) could all be affected – with the risks, according to NZTA, running up to ‘complete overturning’ of high-sided vehicles.

NZTA says that it will put up guard rails on either side of the proposed cycleway/walkway. But when it comes to drivers and motorcyclists, NZTA’s proposed mitigation for this problem amounts to putting up warning signs on a route from which they have no escape!

As Cycle Aware Wellington’s Patrick Morgan states in the article, “Signage is not a solution, it’s an admission of failure.”

NZTA tried to downplay this story. They failed, and now one of the many deficiencies of this flyover proposal is out there in the public eye. In Save the Basin’s eyes, the whole flyover project is an admission of the Government and NZTA’s failure to deliver a modern, sustainable transport solution for Wellington. More of the proposal’s many failures will come to light over the next few months.

Snippets

  • Even the National Party doesn’t want to live next to a flyover, as you’ll see if you read down to the fourth paragraph from the bottom of this Dominion Post article (see fourth para from bottom).
  • The EPA has set an “indicative date” of Saturday for submissions to open on the proposed Basin Reserve flyover. As soon as the EPA is able to be a little more definite, we will bring you news of how to make submissions and suggest some key points for you to make.

 

 

“Helpful” Government Gives Our Public Meeting On Saturday 3 August A Publicity Boost

Posted on by tjonescan

Want a good reason to attend the Save the Basin Public Meeting at St Joseph’s Church, cnr Brougham and Paterson Sts, Mt Victoria, from 4-5pm tomorrow, Saturday 3 August?

Well, if our original invitation wasn’t enough, now you have a new reason: The Government has just announced that the resource consent hearing will be before an EPA Board of Inquiry hearing rather than before the Environment Court, as Wellington City Council had recommended.

You can read the Minister’s announcement, and find out the names of those she has appointed to the Board of Inquiry, on Wellington Scoop.

We’d rather the Minister had taken a few more months – or years – to make her decision, but now we know exactly what we’re up against. We were already going to tell you about NZTA’s flawed and sloppy flyover proposal, and what it means for you.

Now we can also tell you with more confidence what the submission process will be, and how you can tell the Board, the Government, opposition political parties and the world at large that we do not want this ugly, outdated and unnecessary concrete monstrosity within a bull’s roar of the historic Basin Reserve.

Save the Basin Public Meeting, Saturday 3 August: NZTA’s Flyover Plans Revealed

Posted on by tjonescan

The New Zealand Transport Agency has submitted its resource consent application for a Basin Reserve flyover. There are details hidden in NZTA’s plans that will affect you if a Basin flyover goes ahead. What is NZTA up to? What can you do about it? This is your chance to find out.

flyer_image

Public Meeting, 4-5pm, Saturday 3 August, St Joseph’s Church, cnr Brougham and Paterson Streets, Mt Victoria

  • What is the Save the Basin Campaign doing to stop the proposed flyover? What’s been happening, and what’s coming next?
  • What are the key points in NZTA’s Basin flyover plans?
  • There are some issues that NZTA has been trying to keep quiet – but we’re onto them. What are the things NZTA doesn’t want you to know about?
  • What can you do to make sure your voice is heard in the resource consent hearing process?

After the meeting, we’ll have people who’ve been studying NZTA’s plans available to answer questions and help you make your own response to these proposals.

Don’t be left in the dark. Find out what NZTA is planning and what you can do about it.

 

Save the Basin Campaign Press Release: Call For A Fair Go In Consenting Process

Posted on by tjonescan

The Save the Basin Campaign supports Wellington City Council’s position in asking the government to have the consent application for the proposed Basin Reserve flyover heard by the Environment Court. History shows that Boards of Inquiry, with members appointed by the government, are simply rubber-stamping exercises for government policy.

In Monday’s Dominion Post Councillor Morrison was reported as saying that the Basin Reserve ‘desperately needed the $12m stand’ that would be built in a deal with the government to try and hide the flyover. But in official documentation, NZTA says the design of the building is not complete and is subject to the decision of the consent authority on the form of mitigation required. Does Councillor Morrison know something the rest of us don’t, or is he just trying to make himself look important again?

“There are three key things the public should know about the so-called stand,” said Save the Basin Campaign spokesperson Joanna Newman. “The first is that the government is not proposing to build a stand: it is a narrow building to accommodate players and officials, with no public seating. The second is that according to NZTA official documentation no decision has yet been made on the building as this is subject to the Consenting Authority confirming it is required for mitigation purposes. Perhaps the government has done another ‘Sky City’-type back room deal and Councillor Morrison has let this slip in his talk with the press.”

“Finally, Councillor Morrison has the cheek to say that the cricket ground is in real danger of losing its test match status if facilities are not drastically improved. The only reason this is likely to happen is because the Basin Reserve Trust, of which he has been a member for many years, has been grossly negligent in its management of the facilities. It has, for instance, let the Museum Stand deteriorate to a shocking state.”

“There has been far too much behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing when it comes to the proposed flyover,” concluded Joanna Newman. “It’s time for the proposal to be considered in an open, transparent legal process where arguments will be considered on their merits, not on the basis of who makes them.”

Joanna Newman
Spokesperson
Save the Basin Campaign
Phone 027 7577 984

Mary Varnham Tells Dominion Post Readers Why Flyover Madness Must Stop

Posted on by tjonescan

The Dominion Post has a firmly – some might even say rabidly – pro-flyover editorial stance. But, to give them credit, they are prepared to publish opinion pieces to the contrary. On Wednesday, they published an excellent piece by Mary Varnham entitled “Why Flyover Madness Must Stop”. Mary was a Wellington City Councillor from 1998-2001 and co-founded the successful “Chaffers Park – Make It Happen!” campaign.

A few choice quotes from Mary’s article:

“Building a flyover for cars at a time when fast, non-polluting rapid transit is dramatically enhancing the charm and liveability of cities across Europe (and increasingly North America) would make our city the laughing stock of modern transport planners.”

“It’s long been known that, no matter how much you gild the lily with euphemisms like “bridge” and drawings showing trees and smiling pedestrians, elevated roads resting on concrete pillars are a seed bed for ugliness, urban blight and crime.”

“It is clearly crazy to create a monstrosity just to save rush-hour drivers a few minutes driving from the eastern suburbs to Taranaki St.”

Well said, Mary!

You can read the full article here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/8813005/Why-flyover-madness-must-stop

Save the Basin Campaign Press Release: Proposed Flyover Ugly, Unnecessary and Unjustified

Posted on by tjonescan

The Save the Basin Campaign today said that the New Zealand Transport Agency could spin its proposed Basin Reserve flyover however it liked, but the very fact NZTA felt it necessary to come up with various new cosmetic measures to try to hide the flyover showed that the project remained ugly, unnecessary and unjustified.

“NZTA can dress up their proposed flyover however they like, but no amount of spin and no amount of cosmetics can disguise the fact that the agency is trying to impose an ugly, outdated transport solution on Wellington that does nothing to meet Wellington’s transport needs,” said Save the Basin Campaign spokesperson Joanna Newman.

“Flyovers might have been cutting-edge in the 1960s,” Ms Newman continued. “But in the second decade of the 21st century, the idea of building a flyover near the centre of a modern nation’s capital city is ludicrous.”

“All over the world, from Seoul to Seattle, from Portland to Leicester, cities are tearing down flyovers and replacing them with good urban design and sustainable transport solutions. Unfortunately, the Government and the NZTA seem to think that Los Angeles and Auckland are the transport models that Wellington should follow.”

“The Basin Reserve has come under many threats over the years,” said Ms Newman. “In the end all retreated in the face of public opposition because Wellingtonians have placed a high value on the unique character of this reserve, held in trust for them by the Council.

“Yet again, the Basin is under threat, and we are sure that, as they have in the past, Wellingtonians and cricket fans from around the world will rally round to protect it.”

“The Save the Basin Campaign is committed to stopping this ugly blight on the urban landscape from ever being built,” Joanna Newman concluded. “We have a range of methods available to us, and we look forward to using them.”

Joanna Newman
Spokesperson
Save the Basin Campaign

It’s Time For Kevin Lavery To Pipe Down

Posted on by tjonescan

New Wellington City Council Chief Executive Kevin Lavery has been in Wellington for 10 weeks. He says he misses British television, British TV news, and his family. We sympathise.

Unfortunately, he also seems to be missing the point that he is a paid servant of Wellington City Council and of Wellington ratepayers, not their master. Not content with proposing the demolition of Wellington Town Hall, he has now told The Wellingtonian that:

“I could understand the debate over the Basin Reserve flyover, but the decision has been made and it’s time to move on, just making sure there is good mitigation.”

It seems to have escaped Dr Lavery’s attention that no decision has been made about a Basin Reserve flyover. Wellington City Council voted neither to support nor oppose a flyover, and not only has no resource consent been issued for a flyover, no resource consent application has yet been made.

And as for mitigation – if Dr Lavery thinks that a 9-metre-high, 380-metre-long flyover can be mitigated, then he is living on a different planet to the rest of us.

Wellingtonians pay Kevin Lavery a very handsome salary to do his job. We suggest he stops trying to set the agenda and gets on with the work a paid employee of Wellington’s ratepayers should do.

Government’s plan to construct Roads of National Significance is a decade too late, says Canadian transport expert

Posted on by tjonescan

Todd Litman, a transport expert visiting Wellington from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, told a recent Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Centre seminar that the Government’s Roads of National Significance plans (which include the proposed Basin Reserve flyover) are a decade too late, because car use has peaked.

As reported by Wellington Scoop, Todd Litman said:

It’s time to employ a new urban planning model – one that favours accessibility over mobility – in order to meet increased consumer demand for walking, cycling and public transport.

Todd Litman went on to make some points that all New Zealand transport planners – and political parties – should be listening to. To again quote the Wellington Scoop report:

Decline in the auto industry is due to an ageing population, increases in fuel cost, urbanization, traffic and parking congestion, roading costs, changing consumer preferences, environmental and health concerns. He cited an Economist article from 22 September 2012 that went further, showing how the next generation is less inclined to get behind the wheel, and not even learning how to drive until later in life, if at all.

“Change in consumer demands is a terrific opportunity to save money and satisfy people’s demand for walking, biking, and public transport,” he added. “Unfortunately, the planning community is not taking advantage of this. We need to expand the scope of planning objectives. Formerly, it was focused on the speed of travel. I think there are a number of other objectives.”

The full presentation and audio from Todd Litman’s presentation have now been placed online by Motu. You can access them here:

http://www.motu.org.nz/building-capacity/past_public_policy_seminars#2013

We’d like to congratulate Motu for having the foresight to organise this seminar – and thank Todd Litman for bringing a reality check to a New Zealand transport planning scene that is dominated by outdated assumptions and business-as-usual thinking.

Did You Know NZTA’s Proposed Flyover Only Runs From East To West?

Posted on by tjonescan

When people hear about the 9-metre-high, 380-metre-long flyover the New Zealand Transport Agency is planning to build next to the Basin Reserve, one thing above all else comes as a surprise to them – that the proposed flyover runs only one way.

That’s right – NZTA’s proposed flyover would run from east to west – that is, from the Mt Victoria tunnel towards the National War Memorial and the new tunnel under Memorial Park.

So if people from the western suburbs try to tell you that the proposed flyover will make it easier to get to the airport, you can quickly put them right.

(Of course, even if you were travelling from east to west, the proposed flyover will only lead you to a long wait at a set of traffic lights – so it’s not like eastern suburbs residents gain anything, either.)