Puhoi meeting - We won't be railroaded on motorway access

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 Around 250 residents from the Puhoi, Ahuroa and Mahurangi West area have voted unanimously to fight any plan to deny them access to a new State Highway 1.

At a meeting on July 21 in the Puhoi Community Hall, a motion was passed condemning the NZ Transport Agency’s decision not to attend the meeting. The meeting also unanimously agreed that it would not accept July 26, as set-out by NZTA, as the closing date for consultation on the Puhoi to Wellsford motorway extension.

Mahurangi West resident Bruce Blair said the NZTA was trying to railroad the project through as fast as possible, which had left both RDC and ARC with their pants down.

He said a forum with all parties involved needed to be held as soon as possible.

Resident Warren Brighouse said if off-ramps were not installed on the proposed highway, Puhoi would die.

“What’s proposed, if it’s allowed to proceed, will rip the heart out of this whole community,” he said.

The meeting got a commitment from both the Auckland Regional Council and Rodney District Council representatives who were present that they, along with the NZTA, would meet community representatives within five working days.

A number of speakers said the plan to have access points only at Warkworth and Wellsford would leave emergency services in the Puhoi area stranded. There was also anger that the NZTA proposal removed existing access.

Cr Christine Rose said residents had a legitimate right to expect their existing level of access to be maintained.
She said NZTA’s fast-tracking of the project, at the behest of government, was denying the community and the ARC the time it needed to fully consider the potential impacts.

“The risks of growth are very real, no matter what happens,” she said. “We need more research and more consultation so we can make informed decisions.”

Cr Grahame Powell said that to take away access from Puhoi was “unthinkable”. He said a lot of residents commuted daily to Auckland and it was unacceptable to expect them to travel to Orewa or Warkworth to access SH1.

Several speakers spoke about the area’s reliance on tourism, while others wanted the area’s conerns raised directly with the Minister of transport Stephen Joyce, himself a Dairy Flat resident, and Rodney MP Lockwood Smith.

Commenting on conflicting statements on whether or not funding would be a factor in NZTA’s decision, Cr Rose said the construction phase of the motorway was not funded.

“There is no money in any budget and no cost-benefit analysis has been done. Money will be a factor in whether or not access is provided.”

Resident Larry Mitchell said the NZTA was a roading authority that was single-focused and had ignored the community’s rights.

In what appeared to be the only voice questioning the wisdom of the Puhoi access, a resident said she remembered another little town that had a pub, a little library and plenty of character that got a motorway access. “That little town was Albany,” she said.

Image: Rodney's Cr Grahame Powell said NZTA had misinterpreted Puhoi's low growth status, as reflected in the Puhoi Structure Plan.