Transport plan road to ruin, says city
A Hamilton city councillor has slammed a region-wide policy on transport, calling it a ‘‘total climate failure’’.
Yesterday, representatives from 11 Waikato councils considered the Regional Land Transport Plan, which sets goals and priorities for transport over the next 10 years.
The plan breaks down a funding forecast for transport – 31 per cent to go to local road maintenance, 28 per cent to state highway maintenance, 7 per cent for public transport and 3 per cent for walking and cycling projects.
It sets a target of reducing carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, but acknowledges the funding in the plan falls ‘‘inadequately short’’ of changes required to meet climate change responsibilities.
Policy objectives weigh strategic corridors and economic development as the number one priority for transport at 40 per cent, road safety at 35 per cent, and access and mobility (including public transport and cycling) at 35 per cent – it’s admitted in the document that the funding doesn’t align with the goals.
Hamilton City councillor Sarah Thomson told Stuff the policy was ‘‘a total climate failure’’.
‘‘This plan locks in at least another three years of roadingfocused transport investment.’’
Reducing transport emissions would become extremely difficult if councils, and Waka Kotahi, did not put more money into other forms of transport, she said.
The need to cut transport emissions extensively has recently been signalled by the climate commission –recommending nearly all
imported cars must be electric by 2035, and the country must reduce a reliance on cars if it is to become carbon-neutral by 2050.
Thomson said the target to cut transport emissions by 30 per cent was purely ‘‘lip service’’ without any detailed analysis of whether the policies made that even achievable.
Auckland city’s equivalent plan has recently come under fire, with suggestions it could be legally challenged for not meeting the council’s climate targets. All Waikato councils on the regional transport committee approved the plan yesterday, apart from Hamilton City, which was the lone dissenter.
Hamilton City Council representative on the committee Dave Macpherson said the document was nothing more than a ‘‘coffee table book’’.
‘‘I can’t see how we can support this when we are looking at walking and cycling improvements being only 3 per cent of the expenditure, and public transport about 7 per cent,’’ Macpherson told other councillors.
But Thames-Coromandel district councillor Tony Fox said the committee ‘‘was doing the best it could’’ with the funding available.
‘‘Without a large wad of money turning up from the people that set the priorities, I think an organisation like this has to accept it’s not a perfect world.’’
Explanation is given in the policy that 90 per cent of funding has already been set aside for projects that are under way, constraining territorial authorities from creating new projects focused on cycling or public transport.
Taupo¯ district councillor Kevin Taylor said the document was a fair reflection of priorities around the region. He questioned whether the transport committee could slash emissions by 30 per cent.
‘‘Realistically as a regional transport committee, how many diesel vehicles – or heaven forbid – utes are we going to take off the road between now and whenever, to reduce carbon emissions?’’
Regional transport committee chairman Hugh Vercoe told Stuff the policy was ‘‘well-balanced’’, reflecting the concerns of territorial authorities across the entire Waikato region. There was a rural, urban divide when it came to transport priorities, he said.
While Hamilton City Council wanted to decrease congestion and get commuters out of cars, many rural councils thought maintenance and safety on rural roads was critical.
‘‘They have the freedom to say in Waitomo and South Waikato, that our priority is to maintain our existing roads. Are they saying they want cycleways in Tokoroa? No, they are not.’’
Vercoe said the transport policy process began 18 months ago, before the Climate Commission released its recommendations, or an EV ‘‘feebate’’ was confirmed.
The Government had not yet signalled that climate change should be the top priority in regional transport policy plans, Vercoe said.
The policy was ‘‘wellbalanced’’, reflecting the concerns of territorial authorities across the entire Waikato region Hugh Vercoe