My Account
A proposed Road Corridor Bylaw 2022 was presented to Auckland Council’s Rural Advisory Panel on February 4, raising more questions than answers.
Five current bylaws have or will expire this year and Council is looking to replace them with one streamlined bylaw.
It will regulate activity that is outside of typical transport issues such as filming, events, construction, stock crossings and even electric scooter licensing.
Auckland Transport (AT) representative Andrew McGill, who presented the bylaw, said it was not intended to make any major changes.
However, Franklin Local Board Member Alan Cole, who also runs a farm, raised his eyebrow at some of the proposed regulations around moving livestock.
The proposed bylaw would require two drovers, one over the age of 16, with one at the front and rear of the herd.
Cole is a sole operator and saw the proposal causing a headache for himself and other sole operators.
“A lot of people are sole operators and use dogs, that’s a potential issue we need to pick up,” Cole said.
Moving livestock would also require road cones and 30-kilometre speed signs to be placed on the road beforehand.
“In the time it would take me to put up signs, I would have moved the stock already,” Cole said.
Stock movements in the road corridor would also require compliance with the code of practice for temporary traffic management. This would mean to move stock in the road corridor, farmers would have to take up temporary traffic management training and be tested.
Cole asked whether farmers would have to re-sit the test every two years?
The question was left unanswered.
Panel chair Cr Bill Cashmore said the bylaw had been written in an urban context rather than a rural context.
Stock crossings were not the only concern the panel members had, however.
Independent Māori Statutory Board Member Glenn Wilcox questioned how AT had incorporated tikanga for tangi, or funerals, in this bylaw.
McGill stumbled on the question, eventually responding that the bylaw was put before the Independent Maori Statutory Board, but they had declined input. Wilcox asked for the minutes to be sent to him as he was on the board and wasn’t aware they had declined.
Existing bylaws that have expired are being temporarily extended while Auckland Transport develops the new bylaw.
AT is seeking public feedback on the bylaw until February 20. Info: https://at.govt.nz/about-us/have-your-say/proposed-road-activities-bylaw/
