Simon Wilson
AT has listened to the people and will fix this fiasco
Who would have thought? Happy days are nearly here again in West Lynn.
Last year the little shopping village on Richmond Rd, on the northwest edge of Grey Lynn, was subjected to a makeover by Auckland Transport. Car parks were removed, bus stops moved, cycle lanes and new planting added.
Somehow, along the way, shops got flooded, road safety was compromised, shoppers felt alienated, cyclists felt ridiculed, residents were upset, retailers outraged and the whole place turned into an eyesore.
Auckland Transport did the damage and the Waitemata Local Board seemed powerless to stop them. From start to finish — although it never actually was finished — the project was a fiasco.
Now it’s going to be fixed. Wonderfully well fixed, in fact, if everyone keeps their fingers crossed for long enough.
A few months back Auckland Transport commissioned urban design consultants Boffa Miskell to revisit the project. They started by surveying shoppers on the street, retailers in their shops, resident in their homes and commuters passing through. They sat down with the Grey Lynn Business Association, the Grey Lynn Residents Association and Bike Auckland. They talked to everyone they could find with a stake in the outcome, and also to protesters Lisa Prager and Penny Bright.
They discovered West Lynn is both a local village and a shopping destination: 50 per cent of the shoppers live further afield than Grey Lynn or Westmere.
Most shoppers (59 per cent) drive there, but 29 per cent walk. Not many cycle, but 43 per cent said they “would like their primary method of transport to be bicycle”. Only 30 per cent said they wanted