Highway project frustrates landholders

Landholders along the indicative route of the proposed Puhoi to Wellsford ‘road of national significance’ are becoming increasingly frustrated at the uncertainty surrounding the project.

Wyllie Road resident Joel Dickson says the highway will go through the middle of his house.

In a letter to Transport Minister Steven Joyce, Mr Dickson said with the proposed route now well-documented, he was left with a property that was completely unsaleable to anyone but the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA).

“Our ability to buy, sell or develop the property further has been completely compromised and it is imperative that we see a provision put in place by Government to provide funds to purchase the land required to proceed with this development,” the letter said.

“It’s totally unacceptable to leave the 70-plus landowners, who are directly affected, in limbo and without the ability or freedom to buy/sell/develop and move forward.”

NZTA state highways manager for Auckland and Northland, Tommy Parker, says NZTA is aware of people’s anxiety regarding their property and is working as quickly as possible to resolve this.

“The investigation process we started last year is still underway and the team is working hard with progression of the technical aspects of the project to help provide more certainty to landowners,” he says. “We are working with individual property owners as they have contacted us and we are dealing with each one on a case-by-case basis.”

Mr Parker says he can’t confirm how long this process will take, but it’s hoped to complete negotiations with all landholders over the next 18 months.

“At this stage we’re dealing with about 50 landowners that are directly affected and more who are their neighbours, but whose property may not be required for the project.”

Mr Parker says there are a variety of issues to be dealt with including outright purchase of land, part purchases and connections.

“A project of this size is complex and the NZTA is looking at a wide variety of specialist areas gathering information before we move to the next step and announce an updated route and begin the consenting process to protect that route.

“One issue that has attracted a lot of publicity is the stability of the land through the area of the scheme and the challenges this presents. It is important that we provide a route that is both safe and meets the objectives of the scheme.”

Related Story: Transport direction set (+video report)

Published September 2011