Wheels to Wings Cycleway Decision – "Sanity has prevailed"

A controversial cycleway has been paused after a close council decision yesterday.

The Wheels to Wings cycle route on Harewood Road has been put on hold after a review of the project was needed following the government’s announcement in September that there would no longer be any government funding contribution to the project.

The *vote was 9 for a pause, 8 against. (see voting record at the end of this release).

With an increase in costs and no government funding, Council officers had advised elected members that they could not deliver the design approved in 2022 within the total available budget of $18.5 million.

Seven options were originally put forward for elected members to consider, to keep this project moving forward, however Harewood Councillor, Aaron Keown, submitted an eighth option which was successful at the meeting yesterday by a slim majority.

“Sanity has prevailed,” he says “with a majority of councillors finally listening to the public and opting to go ahead with the bits of Harewood Road that the public supports while pushing out the extremely unpopular cycleway. We have been discussing this programme of works for more than three years now and it is positive to have a decision, especially when that decision reflects the feedback from the public and businesses in the area”, says Clr Keown.

The go ahead for a signalised intersection and safe crossing points were approved and are key elements supported by the public.

Papanui Councillor, Victoria Henstock, who was elected in 2022 while the W2W issue was at its height of controversy, is thrilled the public have been listened to.

“I campaigned strongly on this in the last election, and it was clear from those results that people did not want this work to be done. It is pleasing that their voices have been heard,” she says. “It was important for me to raise that the local support for the cycleway was only 14%. This is not clear from the figures as such a large number of submitters came from outside the area – 50% in fact. All voices are important however we must be particularly aware of the local voice in consultations,” says Henstock.

The next step now is to have this option included in the proposed rates calculation in the draft Annual Plan which will go out for consultation early next year. If it’s endorsed by the council in June, no further works, (other than those included in option 8), or funding will be allocated for next four years. A future Council will decide whether it progresses at a later date.

-ENDS-

*Vote record - For a pause: Henstock, Keown, Barber, Mauger (Mayor), Macdonald, Moore, Peters, Scandrett, Gough,

Against a pause: Harrison-Hunt, Coker, Cotter (Dep Mayor), Templeton, McLellan, Johanson, Fields, Donovan,