What does Kerikeri need?

I read, with disappointment, in the Northland Age: “Kerikeri needs new roads” in which Councillor Foy is misquoted and vilified. I ask the question: what does Kerikeri really need and is congestion really a problem? With Google Maps you can see traffic information displayed as it happens. Several times when I checked Kerikeri congestion it didn’t look any worse than in Kaikohe, our second largest urban zone, or Kaitaia, our largest urban zone.

Sure, it’s only a snapshot, but what really are the problems and will new roads solve the problems? Rather than jumping to a particular solution, perhaps congestion can be fixed by moving traffic-intensive industry to a better location? Kerikeri already has two bypasses; will yet others solve the problem?

Kerikeri also needs better wastewater systems, and better defined urban and industrial zoning. How do we decide Kerikeri’s priorities and how did it get into this state? Perhaps, what was lacking was an overall vision, clear long-term strategy, correct zoning and well managed implementation not re-litigated every three years. Clearly the decade-old Kerikeri structure plan has failed to deliver to the town its needs.

Kerikeri isn’t the only community that has needs. Tell me what is more acceptable, taking a few minutes longer to get kids to school because of traffic or losing 33 days of school on average each year because your roads are so poor that they are impassable? What about Diggers Valley Rd, damaged so badly by logging trucks that the school bus driver wonders if she can get through when it rains. Then there is Paihia where the seasonal tourist population stresses water and sewerage systems to the point of failure, surely a problem more pressing than traffic congestion. What about Horeke, that has no water or sewerage system at all and is facing a tourist population explosion that is likely to exceed 10 times its residential population?

Nor is population increase the only driver that puts demands on our infrastructure. Our biggest demand on roads over the last 30 years has been the growth in the forestry industry.

As elected members we are required to consider the whole district and we are required by law to consult with all ratepayers on all significant projects. I would argue that the failure of the Kerikeri structure plan was because there was no overall district strategy. Without that, elected members will attempt to set priorities for the whole region themselves every three years and we will continue to see communities argue vigorously for their areas.

Do we really want to see this district working together, or one where the strong and wealthy “win” over the poor and weak?

So what does Kerikeri need? It needs what the district needs. Strong leadership willing to work for the whole region, having courage and integrity, showing fairness and impartiality. Willing to make the hard decisions based on a real understanding of what the issues are, looking to long-term solutions that will lift the whole region in time. All communities engaged and working together in unity of purpose and willing to go the distance. This is the intent I read in Felicity Foy’s letter.

" Do we really want to see this district working together, or one where the strong and wealthy “win” over the poor and weak?"