Feilding to city cycleway delayed again over funds
Officials are under fire for leaving funding for a muchanticipated Manawatu¯ cycleway out of their long-term vision.
The Manawatu¯ District Council has omitted the cycleway, between Palmerston North and Feilding, from its draft Longterm Plan, despite support from other councils and renewed interest from the New Zealand Transport Agency.
The move to ignore the $1.2 million funding proposal has been criticised by Horizons Regional Council and Te Araroa Manawatu¯ Trust, who say the Manawatu¯ council has put itself in a difficult position if a request for agency funding was accepted.
The proposed thoroughfare has been planned since 2007 but the agency deemed it a low priority and funding requests have repeatedly been denied.
Now, the agency may have a renewed interest in the project, Manawatu¯ mayor Helen Worboys said yesterday.
‘‘The change of Government has seen a change in views on the project,’’ she said.
‘‘All these years later and there does now look like there’s some support from central government.’’
The Manawatu¯ council has partnered with the Palmerston North City Council to complete a business case outside its Longterm Plan, Worboys said, but the project would go ahead only if external funding was secured.
The Manawatu¯ council was hopeful the project would attract a 53 per cent subsidy from the transport agency.
Before officials could approach funders they had to identify potential routes, who would use it and conduct a feasibility study.
Horizons chairman Bruce Gordon urged the Manawatu¯ council to put funding back into its Longterm Plan or risk delaying the project even further.
The decision to defer funding also had Te Araroa Manawatu¯ Trust chairman Frank Goldingham ‘‘deeply concerned’’.
He said Te Araroa New Zealand trail passed through Manawatu¯ , with part of the route running from Feilding to the city.
One woman, who walked the trail from Feilding to Palmerston North, told Goldingham she was concerned about how much of it involved walking along roads.
‘‘The road section from Feilding to Bunnythorpe is . . . the only place in the North Island that the trail runs along a very busy main highway,’’ he said.
Goldingham said the trust’s main aim was to improve off-road travel between Manawatu¯ ’s two main centres.
‘‘There does now look like there’s some support from central government.’’ Helen Worboys