Category: Greater Wellington

Submit now: Wellington Airport runway extension proposal would mean years of extra heavy truck movements through the Mt Victoria tunnel & past the Basin Reserve

Posted on by stb_nyltr0
Heavy trucks don't play well with others
Heavy trucks: not a good fit for busy city streets

Wellington Airport is seeking resource consent to extend its runway 363 metres into Cook Strait. The economics of this move are dubious – not to mention the question of how much money ratepayers would have to shell out to pay for it – and there are significant adverse environmental effects.

But, from a Save the Basin perspective, the main concern right now is the effects of planned construction traffic on Wellington’s transport system, and particularly on State Highway 1 in the area of the Basin Reserve.

The airport company is planning to run 23-metre long heavy trucks day and night, from 9.30am-2.30pm and 10pm-6am, along State Highway 1 for 3-4 years (and possibly up to 10 years) to transport up to 1.5 million cubic metres of fill between Horokiwi and Kiwi Point quarries and the airport – and then those empty trucks will rumble and bounce their way back to the quarries.

The planned route goes around the Basin Reserve and through the Mt Victoria tunnel – and the airport company is projecting up to 620 of those heavy truck movements a day, at a frequency of up to one heavy truck movement per minute.

Stop and think about that for a minute. Whether you’re a pedestrian, a cyclist, a bus user or a driver, do you think those 620 heavy truck movements a day will improve your transport experience? And how about if you are a resident who is trying to live, work or sleep next to the route?

If that’s something you’d prefer not to experience, you can make a submission against the proposal using the form at http://www.actionstation.org.nz/wellington_airport_extension – you’ll find suggested submission points on the left-hand side of the form. Submissions close at 4.30pm on Friday 12 August.

310 Extra Heavy Trucks A Day Through Mt Victoria Tunnel – How Does That Sound?

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

Up to 310 extra heavy trucks a day rumbling from quarries in Horokiwi and Ngauranga, down State Highway 1, through the Terrace Tunnel, past the Basin Reserve, through the Mt Victoria Tunnel, and on through residential streets to Wellington Airport, day and night, for up to 3 years – and then rumbling back.

That’s what Wellington International Airport Ltd wants to inflict on Wellington’s residents and ratepayers. They are seeking $90 million from Wellington City Council, and more again from other Wellington-region councils and central government, to extend Wellington Airport runway 363 metres into Lyall Bay. And their resource consent application makes it clear the scale of the disruption their plans will entail.

There are many arguments against this plan – and you will find a lot of them on the Guardians of the Bays website. But even people who may not be opposed to a runway extension per se need to pay attention to the construction traffic implications, because they are serious both for road users and for those living near the planned route who value their lifestyle – and their sleep.

If you like a long read, Technical Report 9 is the core of the matter. This shows that the airport company wants to run up to 30 trucks an hour – that’s up to one truck every two minutes – through their central Wellington route during these times:

  • 9:30am to 2:30pm weekdays; and
  • 10:00pm to 6:00am weekdays.

So, in trying to avoid peak-hour and school pickup traffic, the airport company has opted for truck movements throughout the night instead. And it’s not just on State Highway 1 – the current plan envisages those trucks rumbling down suburban streets in Kilbirnie and Rongotai as well: day after day, night after night.

Right now, Wellington City Council, Greater Wellington and the airport company are batting the resource consent application back and forth. The Councils have expressed serious concern about the airport company’s construction traffic plans, and there may yet be changes before the resource consent application is publicly notified.

But unless the airport company’s plans change radically, you might want to ask yourself: does the Wellington transport system really need another 310 heavy trucks going back and forth a day? And do I want those trucks rumbling through my suburb? And if your answer is “no”, then you might want to make a submission about that when you get the chance in a few weeks’ time.

In the meantime, you can:

NZTA Refuses To Publicly Rule Out A Future Basin Reserve Flyover

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

At the post-Basin flyover engagement process launch last night, I asked Jim Bentley of Let’s Get Welly Moving (the new brand of the Ngauranga to Airport Governance Group, the joint NZTA/Greater Wellington/WCC body) whether a Basin Reserve flyover was absolutely off the table as an option.

And, although he came up with a carefully-worded answer that they wouldn’t be reintroducing a previously rejected proposal (i.e. the flyover proposal rejected in 2014), he would not say that a flyover as such was off the table. When I asked him to clarify his initial answer, he simply repeated it.

That’s disturbing. And if you’re as disturbed by that news as I am, you’ve got a chance to tell NZTA directly, because they will be participating in the Mt Victoria Transport Forum next Tuesday, 12 April. It would be great if Save the Basin supporters could get along. Details are:

MT VICTORIA TRANSPORT FORUM: The Basin Reserve in the wider city

When: 7.30pm Tuesday 12 April 2016

Where: St Joseph’s Church Hall, Brougham St (see map)

Convened by the Mt Victoria Newsletter

Full details can be downloaded in this flyer.

The forum is to discuss all aspects of the post-Basin engagement process, which looks at wider transport issues across the Wellington region. I think that’s an important conversation to participate in, and it gives us the chance to describe the Wellington we want to live in. You can give your opinion at their new website.

But there are also things we don’t want. Let’s keep making that point loud and clear.

Save The Basin’s Meeting With The Ngauranga to Airport Governance Group

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

Last week, the Ngauranga to Airport Governance Group flew in via private charter flights and met with a number of the groups who had been closely involved in the Basin Reserve flyover hearings – including Save the Basin. We had been pressing for a meeting with the Governance Group, which has been given the responsibility by the Regional Transport Committee for making decisions about post-flyover transport options around the Basin precinct, for some time, and we were pleased that it finally agreed to meet with us and other groups.

Prior to these meetings, Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson called a number of groups together to develop a common approach to the engagement and transport planning processes – a process reflected in this press release from Grant Robertson. Save the Basin was one of the groups that signed on to the letter which Grant Robertson sent the Governance Group.

The meeting itself was brief but constructive. After Save the Basin reiterated our desire for a genuinely consultative and open process to decide on the best transport options around the Basin precinct that also maintained and enhanced the Basin’s significance in terms of heritage, landscape and urban design, the Governance Group assured us that they were committed to the same process, that they found much to agree with in the proposal that Grant Robertson had sent them, and that there was no intention to reintroduce flyover plans by stealth.

So that’s encouraging, but it’s very much early days, and words need to be matched by deeds. Provided the Governance Group’s deeds live up to its words, Save the Basin will be keen to continue to engage with it in 2016.

Grant Robertson: Time for a real say on Basin Reserve transport issues

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

The New Zealand Labour Party has just put out the following press release, setting out a community-driven proposed process for making decisions about the future of transport around the Basin Reserve precinct following the defeat of the Transport Agency’s flyover proposal. The Save the Basin Campaign has signed up as one of the groups supporting this proposed process.

– Tim Jones, Save the Basin Campaign Co-Convenor

Time for a real say for Wellingtonians on Basin Reserve transport issues

7 December 2015

A number of community organisations have proposed a new, grassroots process to find a solution to the transport access issues around Wellington’s Basin Reserve, Wellington Central Labour MP Grant Robertson says.

“With the flyover proposal thankfully shelved, it is time to create a sustainable solution for transport access around the Basin Reserve. The community who live and move around the area have spent considerable time and resources opposing NZTA’s ideas, and have now come together to work on a positive alternative.

“As the local MP I brought together a number of groups to see if they could find common ground following the High Court decision on the flyover. The result is a set of principles and a draft process for finding the transport solution for the Basin Reserve.

“The core of the proposal is taking an inclusive approach that builds a solution from the ground up. The principles recognise the importance of the Basin Reserve area as a cultural, heritage and recreational space. They also call for improvements to start with ‘at grade’ solutions that balance the need for all modes of transport.

“The plan is to have a draft design process that would be professionally and independently facilitated, including a public ‘design-a-thon’ and proper testing of all proposals.

“The Board of Inquiry and the Court were very clear that NZTA had not properly assessed alternatives to the flyover, nor had they consulted as well as they should have. It’s time to find a new way to reach the best possible outcome for Wellington.

“Along with these community groups I am asking NZTA, the Wellington City Council and the Greater Wellington Regional Council to adopt a process that gives the people of Wellington a real voice in what happens in this important project,” Grant Robertson said.

“Along with these community groups I am asking NZTA, the Wellington City Council and the Greater Wellington Regional Council to adopt a process that gives the people of Wellington a real voice in what happens in this important project,” Grant Robertson said.

The groups who have agreed to the principles and draft process are: Living Streets Aotearoa, Save the Basin Campaign, Mt Cook Mobilised, Mt Victoria Residents Association, Newtown Residents Association and FIT Wellington. Other groups are likely to sign up in coming weeks.

Transport Minister Simon Bridges: NZTA Intends To Enter Into “Open And Collaborative Process” Over Basin Flyover Aftermath

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

In a letter to the Save the Basin Campaign (in response to one we sent to John Key soon after the High Court decision was announced), Transport Minister Simon Bridges says some encouraging things:

The NZ Transport Agency advises me that … it intends to enter into an open and collaborative process with councils and the community to spark new conversations and ideas about the best way to deliver substantive solutions to the congestion at the Basin and other pinch points in the network.

I appreciate that you have had a strong interest in this issue over a period of time, and thank you for the time that you have already committed to developing and presenting alternative solutions for consideration.

This is great to hear – but there are concerns that the process adopted so far is neither open nor collaborative, and furthermore that the experts who have developed alternative solutions which the Board of Inquiry said deserved further consideration have not been consulted in the wake of the flyover decision.

Let’s hope that Minister Bridges’ views, as expressed in the letter above, result in the Regional Transport Committee, City and Regional Councillors, and NZTA officials demonstrating a new openness and willingness to genuinely and widely consult on the Basin, and on the best options for Wellington’s transport network.

Wellington Journalists Ask: Can Former Flyover Fans Be Trusted To Evaluate Basin Flyover Alternatives?

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

As Wellington Scoop reported on 10 September, a small group of local body politicians and NZTA officials has taken it upon themselves to make decisions about the future of the Basin Reserve – and all but one of those local body politicians was in the pro-flyover camp:

At yesterday’s regional council meeting, three councillors sought an integrated approach to deciding on at-grade roading improvements around the Basin. Paul Bruce and Sue Kedgley were supported by Barbara Donaldson. But Paul Swain refused. He said that a small governance group of himself, Fran Wilde, Celia Wade Brown and Andy Foster, plus two Transport Agency staffers, would make the decision, and would then report back.

In a comment on this article, Councillor Helene Ritchie christened this group the “Secret Six”.

This group subsequently promised to work with the community, but there remain concerns about how well this work will in practice given the composition of that group, and whether they will be prepared to take a fresh and unbiased look at non-flyover options they had previously rejected out of hand.

In the Dominion Post, columnist Dave Armstrong came up with a memorable analogy:

It’s like getting the Keep Our Old Flag Society to design a new flag. Will this group report back with recommendations that are the urban design equivalent of three boring silver ferns and a koru that looks like a cow doing number twos?

Wellington Scoop has dug further into the track record of the members of this “governance group”, and what it has found does not inspire confidence.

For its part, Save the Basin hopes that NZTA’s decision not to pursue its flyover plans through the courts will enable even the most entrenched flyover supporters to think afresh, and we are pleased that the New Zealand Transport Agency has indicated it will take a new and more genuinely consultative approach to post-flyover discussion and decision-making. But we’re mindful of the point the preceding Wellington Scoop report makes in its final paragraph:

No doubt there’s no way of excluding Transport Agency representatives from the next round of road planning for the Basin. But the Agency should consider its past bad behaviour and find some new faces who have the ability to listen, rather than to threaten or dictate or just misrepresent.

As both Wellington Scoop and the Dominion Post have pointed out in these articles, there are real alternatives on the table at the Basin, including the BRREO, Option X and tunnelling. As Dave Armstrong points out, it makes sense to focus on approaches which are low-cost and don’t foreclose other options if they become necessary:

Some critics say that BRREO is only a short-term solution. Even if that is true, wouldn’t it be worth giving it a go? If it works, keep it; if it doesn’t, start digging for a longer-term alternative. When you look at the time and money already been wasted by myopic officials intent on a flyover, BRREO and Option X deserve some serious consideration, not just by sore losers.

What’s more, Wellington transport needs much more than a rethink at the Basin. FIT Wellington and Generation Zero have made a valuable and timely contribution to this debate with their revamped light rail (modern trams) proposal for Wellington, released last week.

What Save the Basin Said To The Regional Transport Committee On Tuesday

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

On Tuesday morning, Wellington’s Regional Transport Committee met – the first such meeting since NZTA abandoned its pursuit of a Basin Reserve flyover through the courts. That issue was prominent in public participation, and below you can read what we said in our three-minute slot.

There were many good presentations, among them this one on a revamped light rail (modern tram) proposal for Wellington from FIT Wellington and Generation Zero: http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=81470

Comments to RLTC public participation – 8/9/15 – Tim Jones, Co-Convenor, Save the Basin Campaign Inc.

  1. The NZTA decision not to pursue further legal action over its Basin flyover plans provides a welcome opportunity to advance modern, sustainable transport options for Wellington. But that discussion needs to be about more than transport. As the Board of Inquiry clearly showed in its 2014 report, the landscape, urban design and heritage aspects of the Basin Reserve precinct are of vital importance. This time round, they must be taken into full consideration.
  1. NZTA’s concept of proceeding to make limited optimisation improvements soon is worthwhile. At the Basin, such an approach is entirely compatible with the Basin Reserve Roundabout Enhancement Option (BRREO) or a development thereof. BRREO would be far cheaper and quicker to implement than any other option at the Basin, and it doesn’t foreclose other options if they later prove to be needed. I agree with the Mt Victoria Residents’ Association call for a detailed and fair-minded reconsideration of the BRREO proposal.
  1. The effect of at-grade changes at the Basin can be enhanced by making changes along Kent and Cambridge Tces – I understand the Newtown Residents’ Association and Mt Victoria Residents Association have done some further thinking about what this could entail.
  1. Evidence presented to the Board showed that the congestion problem identified with the Basin has its roots in other parts of Wellington’s transport system. Therefore, we need to look at solutions that can be made across Wellington. To quote Ellen Blake of Living Streets Aotearoa, “What we need is an integrated look at transport issues in Wellington combined with decent urban design and planning”.
  1. It’s time for Greater Wellington and the WCC to work cooperatively on this issue, both with each other and with the community, including community groups and groups with expertise in sustainable transport solutions.

Wellington City Council’s Basin Reserve Masterplan and Greater Wellington’s Climate Change Strategy

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

Wellington City Council’s Basin Reserve Masterplan

Wellington City Council is finally developing a Basin Reserve Masterplan. That’s good: the lack of such a plan was adversely noted at the Board of Inquiry hearing. But it could also be bad: the Council may use it as a pretext to demolish the Museum Stand, which houses the New Zealand Cricket Museum, and to make other changes which may adversely affect the Basin.

So we need to be vigilant, and we need to have our say. It’s not yet possible to submit directly on the Masterplan itself, but the seeds of it are sown in the Council’s 10-year Long Term Plan at http://www.our10yearplan.co.nz/ – itself a very important document to submit on, as other planning documents are derived from it:

The general supporting documents for the LTP are below:

http://www.our10yearplan.co.nz/supporting-documents/

The document which mentions the Basin is below:

http://www.our10yearplan.co.nz/assets/Supporting-documents/long-term-plan-consultation.pdf

P. 37 mentions the Basin Reserve Masterplan.  Cost is at $21m.  Note that the actual master plan will be brought back to Council later in the year.  The actual detail is not in the Plan which will make it a bit difficult to feed back on but think it important that high level feedback is given through this process.

The supporting document that discusses the Basin Reserve makes it clear that the future of the Museum Stand is still under threat – there’s a risk it may be demolished, and with it the Cricket Museum which it houses. So you might want to submit on these points:

  • No flyover or similar transport project should be allowed to threaten the future of the Basin!
  • Preservation of the Museum Stand and the New Zealand Cricket Museum
  • Emphasis the importance of the Basin to Wellington, not just as a cricket ground but a recreation facility.

Submissions on the Long Term Plan close on Friday 17 April and can be made at https://submissions.wellington.govt.nz/submission.aspx

Greater Wellington’s Climate Change Strategy

Greater Wellington (aka Wellington Regional Council), while busily supporting more motorways and longer airport runways, is at the same time developing its climate change strategy, which is meant to cover both actions the region should take to reduce its contribution to climate change, and actions needed to adapt to the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise, storm surges, coastal erosion, flooding, and increased extreme weather events.

You have until Friday 10 April to have your say on the draft plan, which might be a good opportunity to point out any contradictions you see between the Council’s words and its actions, as well as recommending actions you think the region needs to take: http://haveyoursay.gw.govt.nz/climate-change

Make a Quick and Easy Submission on Wellington’s Draft Regional Land Transport Plan – Submissions close on Friday 20 February

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

In an earlier post, we told you about the importance of submitting on Wellington’s Draft Regional Land Transport Plan, which local body politicians use to set transport priorities for the city. Submissions close at 4pm on Friday 20 February.

Now there’s a quick and easy online form you can use to make your submission, prepared by the good folks at Generation Zero in conjunction with FIT Wellington. Here’s all you need to do:

Go to http://www.generationzero.org/wellingtonrltp and fill in the quick submission form as follows:

– Enter your name

– Enter your email address

– Tick the four boxes that follow

– Enter any comments you want to make.

– Answer the question: Do you want to make an oral presentation?  Tick yes or no

– Send it.

One thing we’d really like you to say: it’s time to take any prospect of a Basin Reserve flyover off the table, and focus on developing better, more sustainable solutions!

Oral submissions will be heard by the Regional Transport Committee on 9/10 March. We encourage you to make an oral submission if you’re available to do so.