We Say – Celebrations premature

Mahurangi Matters copped some criticism from One Mahurangi Business Association (OM) recently for reporting the Watercare pipeline decision (online on December 12) without giving it enough fanfare.

“Can’t you make it more positive?” one executive member asked, while admitting he had not even read the story.

We make no apologies for our coverage of the straight facts. It is not this paper’s role to manage OM’s public relations profile. But, more importantly, we believe it is still too early to be popping Champagne corks and telling Watercare that “it could not have been a better Christmas present for the town”.

Yes, the fact that the pipeline will now be constructed through Queen Street using trenchless methods is a win, secured largely through the hard work of people such as One Mahurangi co-chair Dave Stott.

Stott’s engineering experience as project manager of The Oaks gave Warkworth’s voice around the table a lot of credibility, which Watercare acknowledged. But even Stott described the decision, “as good as we could have got”. To its credit, Watercare delayed the project to examine the alternative routes put forward by One Mahurangi, but the final route is the one it had always promoted as the best option, and it has added the caveat that it will be trenchless tunnelling “where possible”.

Yes, the petition and protests have made Watercare more aware that real people’s livelihoods are at stake and that we want contractors to take all steps possible to maintain traffic flow and access through the town during construction.

But what about the businesses in Elizabeth Street? The pipeline decision held no good news for them. As chief strategy and planning officer Priyan Perera told Mahurangi Matters, “We will still need to install some of the pipeline with open-trenching along Elizabeth Street and through the Lucy Moore Memorial Reserve to get to the new pump station.” These businesses still face significant disruptions when work starts outside their shops, even if the work is scheduled at night, which is a possibility “where possible”.

And how much disruption will the construction of several launch and reception shafts in Queen Street, for the micro-tunnelling, cause? The locations for these won’t be confirmed until next year.

There are many questions that can’t be answered until Watercare has a more detailed design. Yes, trenchless tunnelling is good news … no doubt about that. But let’s wait until we see what the reality of this project will actually mean for the town centre before everybody pats themselves on the back.