Brakes applied to Bikes in Schools
The Bikes in Schools programme in Palmerston North has hit a speed bump.
The city council increased the pace of its contributions to help three schools instead of one each year, to build tracks in expectation of attracting matching money from the NZ Transport Agency.
But an application for the money has not been made yet, and councillors have called for an independent review of the way schools were selected to benefit from the scheme.
The review would also look at why building facilities at four schools, with two still under way, has run 12 per cent over the council’s $50,000 budget for each school.
Road planning team leader David Lane said when the council decided to speed up its spending, the criteria for attracting government money were not known.
In discussions in January it became clear the council would have to do more cycling education and promotion to support the Bikes in Schools scheme to be eligible for the money.
Cr Aleisha Rutherford said she was disappointed staff had not made better progress in chasing the transport agency for matching funding.
And Cr Lorna Johnson said she was concerned about the cost overruns.
Cr Duncan Mccann said the council had taken a bit of a gamble in anticipation of qualifying for extra money from the agency.
‘‘Overall, the positivity around this scheme is fantastic.
‘‘We wanted to change the culture, seeing bikes back in schools just as they were pulling out their bike stands.’’
Horizons Regional Council has changed its regional land transport plan to include the city council spending $150,000 a year from 2016/17 on Bikes in Schools, and $80,000 a year from next year on education and promotion of walking and cycling.
Those sums have not been included in the draft annual budget, which is out for public consultation.