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Public hearings on route protection proposals for future transport projects around Warkworth wrapped up last week, with Auckland Transport representatives, affected landowners and other interested parties having their say before an independent three-person panel.
At the Auckland Council-hosted hearings in Warkworth, panel members Richard Blakey, Mark Farnsworth and Vaughan Smith heard submissions from individuals whose properties are impacted by eight notices of requirement (NoRs), designating land that may be required for new roads or the upgrading of existing ones, in the coming decades.
The NoRs were lodged with council earlier this year by Supporting Growth, a collaboration of AT and Waka Kotahi, following the preparation of an indicative business case in 2019, a detailed business case in 2020, and a consultation process last year which AT has described as “comprehensive”.
A number of submitters raised concerns about the nature and extent of the consultation, with some characterising it as rushed and cursory.
Bevan Morrison, speaking on behalf of the family’s Gumfield Property Ltd, said that over a number of years it had sought to engage with the authorities about plans for a western link road (WLR), which if built would significantly affect Morrison-owned property, including live-zoned industrial land.
The process had felt hasty, with little information proactively shared by Supporting Growth, he said.
“The multiple alternatives that were looked at, no detail was shared or given during the process. What was shared was basically the final alignment [for the proposed road], and at that point in time it was basically too late to do anything, almost too late to move red lines on a page. That’s disappointing.”
Supporting Growth did agree to one small boundary change to the designation for the WLR, after it was pointed out that it sliced through a corner of a piece of Morrison-owned land earmarked for a future community health hub. Morrison said that Supporting Growth had been informed earlier of plans for the development, but those plans were not taken into consideration when the NoR designation was made.
“The [consultation] process has been very rushed,” said Dave Stott, co-chair of One Mahurangi business association, who gave a joint presentation with Roger Williams of the Warkworth Area Liaison Group.
Stott told the hearing that meetings held with Supporting Growth had felt like “the presentation, really, of a fait accompli”.
“The sort of consultation that should have taken place, in terms of determining options and assessing options, didn’t occur.”
Stott noted that the Future Development Strategy recently adopted by council envisages 20-30 year delays for much of the growth around Warkworth – “yet there seems to be this undue haste to get these NoRs out. We felt there needed to be a pause, to consider the impact of the FDS.”
Williams recommended that council put on hold four of the eight NoRs, until alternatives had been independently investigated, to the local community’s satisfaction.
The four NoRs he referred to are those relating to a public transport hub near Pak’nSave and the northern end of a future WLR; the upgrading of a western section of Woodcocks Road, from Evelyn Street to the new motorway; the upgrading of Sandspit Road, from the Hill Street intersection to the eastern rural-urban boundary; and the southern portion of the envisaged WLR, running from Evelyn Street to where the Old SH1 intersects with McKinney Road.
The remaining four NoRs are those relating to the upgrading of the southern portion of Old SH1, from The Grange to just south of Valerie Close; the upgrading of Matakana Road, from the Hill Street intersection to the rural-urban boundary; a new road linking Matakana Road and Sandspit Road; and the northern portion of an envisaged wider western link, running from Woodcocks Road near the new motorway, southwards to the Mahurangi River.
With the public hearings over, a council planning team will now provide a written response on or before December 9. AT will then prepare its written final submissions, expected to be circulated before the Christmas break.
Council says the panel should make its recommendation on the NoRs early next year, after which AT will have 30 working days to make a decision. Council must release that decision within 10 working days of receiving it, and an appeal period will follow.
