Rural road budget needs support

Rodney councillor Greg Sayers is rallying rural voices to support the road renewals budget in Auckland Council’s long term plan.

At council’s Rural Advisory Panel on February 9, the plan and how it impacts rural Auckland was discussed.

One of the big ticket items for rural Auckland is the $124 million to be spent on the Unsealed Road Improvement Programme over 10 years.

Sayers has been a vocal advocate for road renewals and maintenance, particularly following last year’s floods that showed the vulnerability of the rural roading network.

He feared that the voices of urban Aucklanders might outweigh rural voices when consultation opened on February 28.

“The risk to the programme is it goes out to all Aucklanders; the risk is other Aucklanders might say they would rather that $124 million be spent elsewhere,” Sayers said.

He said the budget would be used for road widening, strengthening and lifting the roads to a standard where they could be sealed.

Sayers asked the panel to stress the importance of the budget among their communities.