NZTA playing dirty with local councils

The Government’s use of strong-arm tactics against the Wellington and Auckland City Councils to force through motorways is outrageous and inappropriate, the Green Party said today.

“This Government plans to ram through its uneconomic motorways at any cost, and ignore the people of Auckland and Wellington who voted in mayors on a strong public transport platform,” Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said.

“We now see the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) wade into local body politics in Wellington, to bully the Council into embracing a dubious project before its details have become public.”

Anonymous sources from the NZTA were quoted in the Dominion Post today referring to elected Councillors as “silly buggers”. The source also implied that if the Council did not accept the entire proposed expressway package, the money would be redirected elsewhere in the country, rather than being put towards alternative transport options.

“It is entirely inappropriate for public servants to attack democratically elected local body representatives,” Dr Norman said.

“Does the Minister of Transport Steven Joyce endorse this type of interference by the NZTA?

“The proposed motorway options that Mr Joyce and the NZTA are trying to bulldoze through in Wellington have not even gone to public consultation.

“It has been two years and Wellingtonians still have no real idea what is planned for the flyover at the Basin Reserve, the Mt Victoria Tunnels, or the four-laning of Ruahine Street in Hataitai,” Dr Norman said.

“Now the NZTA wants the Wellington City Council to formally commit to whatever the motorway builders have planned for the city, before their plans have become public, and before it has heard the public’s views on the impact these projects will have on the city.

“This is an outrageous abuse of the democratic process.”

Green Party Transport spokesperson Gareth Hughes said: “Destroying the liveability of our city for the sake of a motorway is the last thing we should do, especially when money is tight and oil prices are high.

“Wellington’s trains are unreliable and overcrowded, yet Steven Joyce is focusing his attention on more motorways.

“Wellington elected a Mayor with a smart, green transport vision for Wellington. The Transport Minister and NZTA’s motorway builders need to listen to what the people really want,” said Mr Hughes.

Link to Dominion Post story:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4870131/2b-for-capitals-roads-at-risk