‘Squeaky wheel’ may drive share of transport funding

Some Tasman District councillors are wondering if the top of the south needs to become a squeaky wheel to secure government funding for key transport projects.

‘‘As a region, we are really kind of quiet,’’ mayor Tim King last week told his fellow elected members. ‘‘We don’t tend to get too wound up about these sorts of things, which may be slightly to our detriment.’’

King’s comments come after the top of the south missed out on funding for roading infrastructure in a recent multibilliondollar Government announcement. Frustrated, he wrote to the ministers of finance and transport to express his disappointment.

He asked the Government to look at a trio of roading projects in the district – an upgrade of the High St section of State Highway 60 through Motueka, improvements to SH60 between Richmond and Motueka and work to tackle growing congestion along SH6, particularly at its intersection with Lower Queen St in Richmond.

The mayor also asked council chief executive Janine Dowding and engineering services manager Richard Kirby to ‘‘look at options for what we can do to secure funding for these projects’’.

At a council meeting last Thursday, King said he and deputy mayor Stuart Bryant and some key council staff had since met to discuss ‘‘where to next’’.

There were many opportunities to have input, and this could involve getting community input, as a broad groundswell of feedback would carry more weight.

‘‘I guess, traditionally, we’re not a very squeaky wheel,’’ King said. ‘‘There’s some good things about that but it doesn’t necessarily get us the outcomes that we’re trying to seek.’’

Councillor Christeen Mackenzie said she had a suspicion ‘‘squeaky wheels sometimes are quite useful’’ and urged the council to ‘‘pull on every lever that we’ve got’’.

Richmond ward councillor Kit Maling asked if Tasman District Council was also planning to involve Nelson City and Marlborough District councils ‘‘because the more people we’ve got, the more noise we make’’.

‘‘The whole of the top of the south basically got shafted . . . or got no money,’’ Maling said. ‘‘The wider we go, the better.’’

Nelson mayor Rachel Reese on Monday said she believed the top of the south had been effective in working together on transport issues.

‘‘Do we need to be a squeaky wheel? I think, we’ve been clearly advocating the needs of our region.

‘‘I’d like to think we can have a mature relationship with the Government of the day,’’ Reese said.