Parking compromise ‘for safety’

Replacing nearly 40 car parking spaces with a cycleway outside a primary school was needed to make cycling safer and help people get out of their cars, says a local councillor.

While some parents and residents wanted a rethink of the plan on Muritai St outside Tahunanui School, children’s safety was a priority, Brian McGurk said after he opened the school’s new bike track.

Principal Barbara Bowen said the track on the school field was designed to help pupils learn to ride safely.

She said children riding to and from school and the neighbouring Tahunanui Kindergarten were at risk because they were mostly using the footpath. A child was recently knocked off his bike by a car coming out of a driveway.

Some parents felt that the current onroad cycle lanes, on both directions on Muritai St, were unsafe, with parked cars on one side and moving traffic on the other. They welcomed the move to a single, two-way cycleway on the school side of the road.

Others were not convinced that it was a safer option, with people exiting driveways into the new cycle lane, and many children coming to school from the other side of the road.

They said removing 39 parking spaces to make way for the cycleway would make it harder for residents who only had onstreet parking, and for parents who drove their children to and from school because of work or other pressures.

The cycleway is part of the $2.8 million Tahunanui Pathways Project run by the Nelson City Council, extending a cycle route from Tahunanui Drive and Parkers Rd on to Muritai St and Waikare St towards Ta¯ hunanui Beach.

McGurk said he door-knocked the length of the street during the local election campaign. While there was ‘‘a bit of concern’’ about the loss of parking, one of the biggest issues for parents was for children to be able to get to and from school safely.

The cycleway was a ‘‘step in the right direction’’, he said. ‘‘There’s a barrier that separates it from the vehicle traffic.’’

McGurk said there had been ‘‘extensive consultation’’ with the Ta¯ hunanui community on options since 2015, including drop-in sessions at the school.