by Grapevine Admin (Chris) | Oct 30, 2018 | MailChimp
Hi all,
AT have confirmed the following timetable for sealing Ahuroa Road:
- Presently under preliminary investigation.
- March 2019 – Design phase
- November 2019 to 2021 Construction phase
Length 8.5 Km (i.e. fully sealed).
Expectation that at $5 million per annum there will be enough budget.
I am still communicating with the powers to be on why they are not allocating more of our money on road sealing. Shane Ellison the CEO of AT has admitted that is has been diverted into higher priority projects like the City Rail Link. AT reduced what seemed like a $12.1 million allocation (the Mayor announced $121 million over 10 years) to $4.7 million this year and $5 million next year. It appears that AT are “uncontrolled” and are to blame for the lack of road sealing progress. Either the Mayor and Auckland Council have lost control of AT or they are both in cohorts misleading the Rodney Rural public.
Unfortunately, unless we do something about it, our side roads will not be sealed within our lifetime, but downtown Auckland will be fabulous! Think about it every time you fill up with gas with the RFT or paying the new Local Target Transport Rate. Us rural people are being screwed by Auckland Council and Auckland Transport.
I will give a more informed update shortly.
Glen
p.s. Only 8.7 Km of new seal since 9 years in Super City.
by Grapevine Admin (Chris) | Oct 4, 2018 | MailChimp
An update from Glen Ashton:
I was very confused over the recent Auckland Council (AC) and Rodney Local Board (RLB) announcements with regards sealing our metal roads and have spent the last month investigating and emailing the powers to be.
- Araparera Forestry Trust fund – For those new, this is an old northern Rodney target rate that was paid into a pine forest venture with the idea that profits would be spent on sealing the roads. After much investigation by Greg Sayers and Colin Smith they have found $2.8 million that is available and the RLB have selected some minor roads from the priority list to be sealed.
- Local Transport Target Rate – This is the $150.00 on your rates. When consulted with the public this included $13.5 million to be spent on road sealing over ten years. At the last minute the Local Board altered the funding statement and excluded road sealing and essentially only benefitting the urban town centres with bus services, footpaths and park n rides. The rural community were ignored. This was passed by vote 6 to 3. Our local members Beth Houlbrooke and Tessa Berger voted yes.
- Regional Fuel Tax – This is the extra 11.5 cents per litre for gas. The Mayor Phil Goff made the announcement that $121 million would be spent on road sealing over the next decade. That was made up of $36 million from General rates and $85 million from the RFT. However, it is Auckland Transport (AT) that budget the year on year allocation and have allocated only $3.1m + $1.6m = $4.7m for 2018/19 and only slightly more for 2019/20. The bulk of the amount is “promised” in the later 4 years. Apparently, there are “other” higher priority projects in the Super City.
Rural Rodney has been badly treated. Greg Sayers has been very active on our behalf as have Local Board members Colin Smith, Alison Roe and Brenda Steele. The rest of the Local Board are working against us.
As for Ahuroa Road sealing; it is 2nd on the priority list and is being designed for full length sealing. Unfortunately, there will not be enough funds for at least two years to begin the project. As for the other Ahuroa roads it will be more than a lifetime wait?
Since we have been in the Super City (9 years), AC / AT have only sealed 9 kilometres. Other Rodney rural communities are also upset, and I expect a collective reaction against AC / AT is eminent.
This is an abridged version of conversations and emails, contact me if you want to know more.
[email protected]
by Grapevine Admin (Chris) | Sep 7, 2018 | MailChimp
Auckland council have put out a series of proposals which you have until the 11th Sept to provide feedback on.
Proposal three suggests moving the internal boundary of the local Rodney board elections for our local ward. It suggests shifting the Wellsford boundary southwards, to Makarau. This may impact you in some way so it could be worth reading and providing feedback on their proposed plan.
https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/have-your-say/topics-you-can-have-your-say-on/consultation-on-electoral-boundaries-and-representation/Pages/default.aspx
by Grapevine Admin (Chris) | Dec 21, 2017 | MailChimp
Merry Christmas,
As you all have seen yet again our roads are in a very poor state and need urgent attention. I am most concerned that there will be a serious incident in the near future as many drivers are using all the road to avoid potholes and corrugations. I ask that then when you have some time please log onto the AT website and submit a report.
https://at.govt.nz/about-us/contact-us/report-a-problem/
Thank you, have a merry and safe Christmas.
Regards,
Mike Conner
by Grapevine Admin (Chris) | Jul 10, 2017 | MailChimp
Concerned about the rate of development in Warkworth or Auckland Council’s delay in planning for local growth? A volunteer group of Warkworth professionals have prepared a spatial plan framework detailing the potential land use within the future urban areas.
The proposal is intended to generate community thought, discussion and feedback to develop a community-led spatial plan. Warkworth’s population is expected to rise from around 4,500 to 25,000 within the next 20 years.
It is not a matter of “if”, it is a reality and will happen. Auckland Council has identified Warkworth as an area for definite future growth
You may have seen articles recently in the Rodney Times and/or Mahurangi Matters about the Warkworth Spatial Plan.
The Spatial Plan is a skeleton or framework that with community input may become a draft plan. That draft plan may then be submitted by the community to Council to guide them toward the development of Warkworth Structure Planning and future zoning process.
Our goal is to get as many Warkworth residents to respond with their ideas as possible. Please read about the proposed Warkworth Future development on the website.
More importantly please complete the feedback questionnaire as we need your input. http://www.warkworthgrowth.nz
It is very important that you spend the few minutes necessary to answer the on-line questionnaire on how you would like to see Warkworth grow.
If anyone has any questions or would like a hard copy of the information posted out please either email [email protected] or give me a call.
Thanks,
Ian Hutchinson 021 924 287
