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The projected expansion of Warkworth will require future additions and upgrading to transport corridors around the town. Auckland Council is considering Notices of Requirement (NoRs) lodged by Supporting Growth, a collaboration of Auckland Transport and Waka Kotahi, aimed at protecting the land needed for eight transport projects. The proposals affect an estimated 19 full properties and parts of a further 217. Submissions were invited earlier this year, and public hearings are currently underway in Warkworth (see story p5). In the last four editions, Mahurangi Matters examined some of the issues raised with four of the NoRs. This report summarises the remaining four.
Upgrading of a western section of Woodcocks Road, from Evelyn Street to the new Puhoi-Warkworth motorway (NoR2)
The proposal is to upgrade the road to an urban arterial, tying in with existing roads and widening existing intersections. The rural section of Woodcocks Road would be widened to a 24-metre, two-lane corridor with separated cycle and footpaths on both sides of the road.
Supporting Growth says its objectives include improving connectivity and safety, providing an efficient, resilient and reliable route, integrating with and supporting planned urban growth and the existing and future transport network.
Twenty-five properties on Woodcocks and Wyllie Roads are impacted by the designation. Supporting Growth is requesting a time lapse of 15 years, which means the designation expires only if it is not effected within 15 years of its inclusion in the Auckland Unitary Plan.
Several submissions responding to the NoR suggest an alternative route.
A joint submission from the Warkworth Area Liaison Group and One Mahurangi Business Association argues in favour of essentially a straight line extending from Woodcocks Road (roughly from where it curves northward near Mason Heights) towards the motorway and a proposed future southern motorway interchange.
It says this more direct route would be 0.5 kilometres shorter to the proposed motorway interchange and industrial land. It would also avoid the need to upgrade the current one-way bridge to a more substantial structure, and allow for the possible development of a large Falls Reserve park. The one-way bridge could be retained and used for a walkway-cycleway to access the reserve and future park, the submission says.
The Ministry of Education is investigating a possible future school site at 100-138 Woodcocks Road. It says in its submission the proposed layout of NoR2 should be reconsidered since it “requires the acquisition of a significant portion of the ministry’s site”.
Upgrading of the southern portion of Old SH1, from The Grange to just south of Valerie Close, to an arterial corridor (NoR3)
The proposal entails the widening and upgrading of the road, including cycle lanes and footpaths, tying in with existing roads and intersections. Almost 80 properties are affected, including addresses on Old SH1, Campbell Drive, Fairwater Road, McKinney Road and Toovey Road. Supporting Growth seeks a time lapse of 15 years.
Submitters include owners of properties along Old SH1, zoned future urban, who say their future development plans will be hampered by their land’s inclusion in the designation.
Others are concerned about the potential impact of the proposed work on access to their properties from the road, or the designation’s close proximity to their homes.
Some submitters do not oppose the NoR but object to the lengthy time lapse, saying the upgrade needs to take place sooner, to provide safe and efficient transportation in the area.
Upgrading of Sandspit Road, from the Hill Street intersection to the eastern rural-urban boundary, with cycle lanes and footpaths (NoR5)
The designation affects 29 properties, mostly addresses on Sandspit Road. A 25-year time lapse would apply.
Again, submitters include landowners concerned about the effect the designations have on their properties, severing off portions, lowering their value, and impacting quality of life by reducing buffer distances. The 25-year lapse period and the “blight” placed on the properties over that extended length of time also draws objections.
“We have been told that the timing of any decision to take the land will likely be some time in the next 20-30 years,” the owner of one affected property towards the western end of the route says in his submission.
“We have also been told that there is no realistic possibility of Auckland Transport purchasing the land until that decision is made. In the meantime, our property is unable to be developed and effectively unable to be sold. This is grossly unfair and will severely impact on the owner, both economically and psychologically.”
The northern portion of an envisaged wider western link road (NoR8)
The wider western link road (WWLR) is a proposed future ring road, beginning on the Old SH1 south of town near Valerie Close, and sweeping east and then north until joining Woodcocks Road near Wyllie Road, just east of the new motorway. It would also connect to a future southern interchange on the motorway.
NoR8 only deals with the northern part of this envisaged route, from Woodcocks Road down to the Mahurangi River. Thirteen properties are affected, including addresses on Woodcocks Road, Wyllie Road, Valerie Close and Old SH1. A 20-year lapse period would apply.
Supporting Growth says the southwestern area of Warkworth is the largest area of future urban zoned land in Warkworth, and a WWLR would provide direct access to this land and the associated residential, commercial and employment activity.
