Sign In / Register
An attempt to support Leigh residents who don’t want a blanket speed reduction in their village from 50km/h to 30km/h was knocked back at last month’s Rodney Local Board meeting.
Deputy chair Beth Houlbrooke wanted to make specific reference to the Leigh proposal, as well as one for Warkworth’s Woodcocks Road, in Board feedback to Auckland Transport (AT) on Phase Three of its Safe Speeds programme.
She suggested members did not support the blanket speed reduction in Leigh, but instead supported variable speed controls of 40km/h during peak school traffic hours on Hauraki Road, Seatoun Avenue and Cumberland Street, as well as the installation of ‘School’ and ‘Children Crossing’ warning signs on Hauraki Road.
Ms Houlbrooke also wanted the Board to support the proposed speed reduction of 100km/h to 60km/h on Woodcocks Road from Falls Road to Wyllie Road, but only down to 80km/h from Wyllie to Old Kaipara Road.
However, independent Warkworth member Steven Garner was not in favour, and said members should confine their feedback to broad support for the AT programme.
“I know communities are worried about reduction of speeds in specific places,” he said. “But in our communities and where people live, I’m very supportive of speeds being reduced quite significantly. Low speeds do less damage.
“There’s too much detail here. I think 30km/h in areas where there are higher numbers of people is the only way to go. And a school sign and crossing signs are beyond the remit of this. I would prefer not to see these conditions to our feedback.”
Rodney First member Danielle Hancock agreed.
“I’m a bit nervous about this. We’re not speed experts, not traffic engineers,” she said. “Are we representing the full community, not just small sections?”
Ms Houlbrooke agreed to withdraw her suggestions, and members voted to delegate approval of the Board’s feedback to Houlbrooke and Louise Johnston once AT had updated and amended its report, after a couple of minor errors were spotted.
Meanwhile, in Leigh, more than 400 people have signed a petition seeking the retention of the 50km/h speed limit and a reduced speed limit around the school at drop off and pick up times, and AT has organised an online meeting to discuss the issue.
Petition organiser Tony Enderby said there was huge support for trying to stop AT changing what he said was a safe current speed limit to something that was “unreasonable and not being implemented in any other similar small town”.
“It begs the question of why Omaha and Matakana, which have had road deaths and injuries, were not also selected,” he said. “AT has a few questions to answer and I look forward to a representative fronting up to explain why they need to change something that is not broken.”
AT had been planning a public meeting on the issue, but it has now moved this online “due to Covid concerns in the community, and the potential size of the meeting”.
“We are asking people to register, so we can gauge an idea of numbers, so we have enough staff available to answer questions,” a spokesperson said.
The meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 7 at 6.30pm – email atspeedprogramme@at.govt.nz to register or go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CLB5TT5
AT says anyone unable to attend at that time can email atspeedprogramme@at.govt.nz or call 09 355 3553.
