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A petition signed by nearly 1400 people, backing the proposed 10-year $124.6 million Unsealed Road Improvement Programme, was presented to Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown by Rodney Councillor Greg Sayers on April 4.
Sayers said virtually all the 1391 signatories supported money for sealing and improving unsealed gravel roads, and as soon as possible.
“This has given a very strong steer about our rural communities wanting their rates returned to seal and improve the unsealed roads,” he said.
Accepting the petition, Brown said it was important to recognise that more than 70 percent of Auckland’s land area was rural and required “a fair share of infrastructure funding”.
The online petition also gave people the opportunity to comment on other transport and community projects they felt were important in terms of rates funding.
Sayers said there was strong support to get the Hill Street junction fixed ahead of the expected population explosion around Warkworth, as well as support for continuing to upgrade the town’s wastewater and freshwater systems, and the need to protect properties from flooding.
“There were also a number of general comments about wanting council to focus on its core business in order to keep its debt levels down and rate increases low,” Sayers said.
He also presented the petition to Auckland Transport (AT) chief executive Dean Kimpton and chair of AT’s board of directors Richard Leggat.
The petition forms part of feedback on all aspects of the 10-Year Budget submitted to council last month, which will be considered by the mayor and councillors before being voted on in June.
