Council adopts expressway objectives
Council has adopted a set of 11 objectives for membership of the Sandhills Expressway Alliance being established by NZTA
Kāpiti Coast District Council has adopted a set of objectives for membership of the Sandhills Expressway Alliance being established by the New Zealand Transport Agency.
The 11 objectives[PDF 118 KB] were passed with some fine tuning by Council today (April 22, 2010)
Mayor Jenny Rowan said the setting of objectives was an important step towards seeking a positive outcome for local residents from the NZTA driven project.
“The proposed expressway is not what we envisaged for our district. However, it has become very clear that the full weight of central government is behind the expressway concept.
“Given that, my council has decided it is better if we are ‘inside the tent’ where we will be able to lobby on behalf of our residents for an outcome that achieves improvements for both local and national road users.”
Ms Rowan said Council’s membership of the Alliance, however, came with conditions. “We have gone to our constituents and sought their advice over the kind of outcomes they want. These have been packaged as 11 objectives (attached). We think these objectives are sensible and take into account across-district travel, the importance of access to town centres, public transport links, cultural and environmental issues.”
Council has authorised Chief Executive Pat Dougherty to negotiate membership of the proposed NZTA sponsored Alliance based on these objectives, and to report back to Council on the outcomes of those negotiations.
Ms Rowan said Council understood Government’s keenness to push on with the project, but she was equally mindful of the need to get Council and the community’s aspirations on the table.
“This is a major project that carries huge implications for the future shape and health of our community. It is important that all the participants are open and clear about their aspirations from the start.”
A resolution put that Popular Avenue be used as the southern entrance, if the Expressway proceeds, was lost after several councillors argued that not enough information was available to make such a decision at this stage.