New bumps, bollards confuse residents
Aranui locals feel frustrated and unheard after hundreds of bollards have restricted parking and narrowed corners, but the city council says they consulted the community.
Initial construction of the $2.6 million Aranui Streets Project has “perplexed” residents who feel the council has ignored them.
The project, 90% funded by Waka Kotahi, aims to make streets safer and more people-friendly by installing speed humps and bollards - but no changes are locked in until June.
Resident Zion Tauamiti said the changes had only congested Aranui, removed parking spaces and reinforced that “in the east they don’t really care about the voice of the people”.
The only unsafe thing about the roads was decade-old potholes, he said.
“There’s 13-year-old potholes and then it took them 13 days to install 1000 bollards and 50,000 street humps. Isn’t that crazy?”
Now some intersections were “too tight” to function as two way systems and parking was scarce near the shops and Wainoni Park, he said.
“There’s no way they can’t reverse the decision.”
Eastern Eagles Rugby League Club secretary Fina Fa’amoe said “it’s just ridiculous” to block a 100m strip of parking by their home turf for no apparent reason.
“It just feels like we don’t have a say in our city, they didn’t consult us on their plans.”
However, Council transport planning and delivery manager Jacob Bradbury said they had worked with community leaders, surveyed locals, and held workshops at schools.
Consultation in September 2023 “was advertised online, with letter drops door-knocking and at Aranui Library,” he said.
He noted current speed humps and bollards were temporary, and installation should finish by March 18.
“Post-construction, council will be seeking feedback on the community... We are able to make changes to the project mid-trial as a result of feedback.”
In June the Waitai Coastal-Burwood-Linwood Community Board will be presented with the feedback and decide whether any aspects will remain, or be changed.
Haeata Community Campus principal Peggy Burrows said her school had been heavily consulted on changes to the four roads surrounding its campus.
Students were “very excited” to see their ideas coming to fruition, she said, prompted by concerns of fast cars and safety.
“The children were worried about their younger brothers and sisters getting run over by silly people going fast all the time.”
Burrows said consulting children was equally as important as adults as “they are the future after all, it’s their environment”.
“The very people who are perhaps complaining about not being able to park close to a shop are the very people who should perhaps be doing a bit of exercising.”
Chisnallwood Intermediate School principal Justin Fields said his students “were a lot safer as a result” of the changes near them, which they had been consulted on.
However, he was still pushing for a bike lane on Avondale Road as two children had broken their arms there in the last two Fridays due to rough terrain and no dedicated cycle space.
Councillor for Burwood Ward Kelly Barber said the project showed the importance of in-depth consultation.
Barber said upon door knocking along Breezes Rd, he was met with an “overwhelming response from locals that didn’t want to lose parking”.
After seeing the changes, “people feel like its a bit of a fait accompli, that they have no power to stop this”, he said.
He acknowledged the council had consulted the community, but “perhaps it wasn’t done to the level it could have been.”
“It just goes to show you that when we
do consultation we need to make sure we’re getting a really good grasp of what the community thinks, and I think in this case we could have done an awful lot better.”
Aranui Community Trust Incorporated Society is holding a feedback day on Thursday to help locals give their opinion on the issue to council.