One Warkworth – Vital vote

With the Business Improvement District (BID) campaign underway and voter apathy the biggest risk to its success, take a minute to remember the advocacy wins One Warkworth has achieved and, importantly, if you are a business or commercial property owner, vote

“Yes” to the BID now.

Case in point, it is no surprise to see there is finally movement on decisions about Hill Street and Matakana link road (MLR) given the collaborative pressure generated at the Transport Forum meetings every two months. These have been facilitated by One Warkworth since 2017.

Co-chaired by One Warkworth chair, Chris Murphy and Mark Mitchell MP, the forum has brought together local politicians, concerned residents, local planning and engineering experts, developers, and representatives from the Warkworth Area Liaison Group, Mahurangi East Residents and Ratepayers, Fix Hill Street Now, Auckland Council, Auckland Transport, road builder NX2 and the NZ Transport Agency.

With the help of experts like Roger Williams and David Stott, the forum has pushed hard for bureaucrats to listen to local concerns and take a pragmatic and commonsense approach to a solution.

For Hill Street, this includes changes to the design, design budget and the intention to allocate build budget for a 2022 start. For the MLR, it resulted in a four-lane carriageway and bridge option being chosen and consent for winter works to be applied for, so it can be completed in time with the new motorway.

Justifiably, it can be argued that without One Warkworth leading the charge with these transport forum meetings, this would not have been achieved – at least not within the required time.

If the BID is successful, One Warkworth will be able to continue this type of advocacy work. We will be able to keep working hard to get land use planning right and the necessary infrastructure to support it.

Without the BID, pushing for what we need will fall back to a small group of volunteers with little time and no resources to make a difference. Our future could end up in the hands of bureaucrats at Auckland Council, Auckland Transport, other Council Controlled Organisations and private developers. The hopes, aspirations and needs of the community could well be left behind.

This is why is it so important that local business people and commercial property owners find out more and vote “Yes” to support the BID. With the BID, we will have a structure that will ensure the future of One Warkworth and our ability to go into bat for the local community.

Voting papers have been distributed by Independent Election Services and the biggest risk we face is voter apathy. We’ve had great feedback that One Warkworth is doing a good job. Please show us your support by voting ‘yes’ for the BID and voting now. We need at least 150 votes, and the majority of them in favour of the BID to get this over the line.

If you believe in the future of this town, and you want One Warkworth to continue its important work, please make sure you vote before March 16, and please vote “Yes” to the BID. We are stronger together.

Mark Macky, Deputy chair, One Warkworth
www.onewarkworth.co.nz