The Wellington Civic Trust has made a submission to the draft RLTP issued by Greater Wellington Regional Council in March 2009. This document will be posted on this site shortly.
The Civic Trust has a particular interest in the effctuiveness of our Resource Mangement and Consents processes. We made a submission on the new Bill to the Local Government & Environment Select Committee – the submiussion was published in our April 2009 Newsletter and will be posted on this website.
All members and intending members welcome. the Annual Report for 2008/09 will be available at the meeting. For further information, contact secretary@wellingtoncivictrust.org
To Greater Wellington Regional Council
Dear colleagues,
This responds to the Draft Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP) consultation stage. Please note that we wish to be heard in the Oral Submissions phase.
- The Civic Trust’s interests:
The Wellington Civic Trust was established in 1981 with objectives including: - To promote a civic environment whereby the City of Wellington, its surroundings and its adjacent countryside becomes a resource for the use, benefit and enjoyment of all Wellington citizens;
- To promote high standards of in architecture, landscape management, building, and town and country planning;
- Land transport is central to the viability and vitality of Wellington as the regional centre. In Wellington, with its setting between harbour and hills, transport engineering will always be a highly visible and potentially intrusive feature in the cityscape. The Civic Trust works to reduce the negative effects of traffic on our urban experience.
- The Civic Trust applauds the Council’s investment in and commitment to public transport. It shares the view that this will help enhance both the urban quality of Wellington and the optimum flow of traffic, both freight and passenger, through and around the city. The Trust is convinced that substantial (not just incremental) public transport improvements are now necessary to allow the traffic reductions that are necessary to improve quality of life, economy, health and environment. These bring both amenity benefits and business benefits to the city.To create a first class public transport system for which Wellington is ideally suited (given its topography and existing rail infrastructure) will require far more funding than is presently allocated or planned. The Region’s priorities should therefore be reassessed.Currently Transmission Gully remains a high regional priority even though less than half the required funding has been identified. Even if the Government were to assume responsibility for this project, the region will still be expected to make a major financial contribution. It is clear therefore that the region cannot afford both the major public transport improvements that are required AND Transmission Gully.In the Trust’s view Transmission Gully’s priority should be reassessed as on present evidence it would only serve to increase road congestion in Wellington City and at the same time fatally delay the comprehensive upgrade of public transport that both Council and the Trust support.
- Wellington Civic Trust is concerned that the current amount of road traffic is causing serious problems in the city; and that transport management needs to stabilize or reduce this amount of traffic. There is reliable evidence that fuel oil not only contributes to “global warming” factors, but also faces problems of cost and supply. While some of the present road vehicle traffic will change to other fuels, the Plan can be adjusted to a reduction in overall road traffic growth as a strategic assumption.
- Wellington Civic Trust opposes grandiose proposals for flyovers, tunnels, road widening, extra lanes and round-about modifications because they will induce more traffic on the roads. Much of this congestion is peak-hour only, when a combination of improved public transport and safe walking routes to schools could resolve the problem more effectively than road engineering. The Trust supports road safety improvements.
- The Draft RLTP notes (p.2) that “the new government is expected to issue a new Government Policy Statement on land transport funding some time in the next month” i.e. before the RLTP is due to be finalized in June. The points noted in #2 -5 above remain valid whatever the funding regime.
- The draft RLTP is of necessity a complex document and the final version should seek to make the meaning of the various line items, and their relative priorities, clearer than the draft does. There are two specific matters that warrant change from this draft:
SH 1 Basin Reserve Upgrade
- There is no mention at all of the “War Memorial Park” changes to the alignment of SH1 in the Basin area, although media reports confirm continued government commitment to this. For the RLTP to consider it out-of-scope would be merely to continue the sort of fragmented approach to transport which has given rise to many of the problems which the Plan is trying to solve.
- Only on p. 37 in Appendix A is “Grade separation” mentioned – assumed to be a euphemism for the overbridge. The impacts of this are a matter of some controversy e.g. media reports that “The Basin Reserve flyover is second in the Council’s new transport priorities list” (Dominion Post 24/2/09). Elsewhere in the Draft RLTP the generalized wording “upgrade” is used; consistency is needed if the Plan is to be credible.
- The Civic Trust believes that the urban design consequences of the “Adelaide Road regeneration”, the “War Memorial Park” and the “SH 1 upgrade” all converging in their separate ways at the iconic Basin Reserve are critical. In the interests of informed public debate, the Trust is planning a one-day Public Seminar About the Basin later this year, continuing a 27-year history of sponsoring such fora on Wellington civic issues. We look forward to the participation of GWRC and other stakeholders in this occasion.
“Electronic rail ticketing”
- In pursuit of the goal of reducing barriers to public transport usage, so that both (i) pressure on road traffic is relieved and (ii) the contribution of public transport to urban quality is optimized, this listed project would be better described as “integrated e-ticketing”. E-ticketing across all public transport modes would, as is well demonstrated in numerous overseas systems, help position public transport as an integrated entity, not just a collection of different technical modes.
Summary
- The GWRC has achieved much in public transport. Maintaining this momentum will benefit not only passengers but also other road users, as well as the wider environ-ment and the urban vibrancy of Wellington. The real costs of this must be recognized.
- All of the roading and related projects in the Basin Reserve area ought to be listed and co-coordinated with due regard to the urban quality of both the Basin itself and of its vicinity. We invite the Council to work with us on the public seminar About the Basin which the Civic Trust is planning for mid-2009.
- The RLTP allows wise choices to be made for a future where much-increased fuel costs, acceptability of public passenger transport, and the vibrancy of a compact city intensified around its growth spine are core considerations. Timing and sequencing are critical factors. Unless great care is taken to programme the changes with a clear understanding of the impact of each change, accompanied by proposals to mitigate unpleasant effects, the outcome could be a fine plan which is not politically palatable.
Yours faithfully
Alan Smith
Secretary
To the Committee Secretariat, Local Government and Environment Committee, Parliament House
Wish to be heard
- The Trust wishes to appear before the Select Committee in support of its submission.
About the Wellington Civic Trust
- The Wellington Civic Trust is a charitable trust established in 1981. It is governed by a Board elected at its Annual General Meeting of members. Membership, including corporate members, is approximately 200.
- The broad objective of the Trust is to help make Wellington the best of all possible places to live and work. The Trust is a vehicle for people who care about the city, to channel their energies and combine their resources into collective contributions to the city’s development. The Trust regularly organises seminars where members and the public are invited to discuss with invited speakers, issues critical to the city’s development. The Trust’s Biennial Awards recognise outstanding urban projects which enhance the city. The Trust keeps in touch with development opportunities and projects within the city and where necessary makes submissions to the Council. A good working relationship is achieved and maintained with the Council and its officers.
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Unnecessary flyovers and tunneling projects — otherwise known as grade separation (different levels of roadways) – may not be needed at the Basin Reserve if the real focus is on reducing road traffic.
This is one of the points made by the Wellington Civic Trust in its submission to the Ngauranga-to-Airport Draft Corridor Plan, said Chris Watson, Convenor of the Civic Trust’s Traffic & Transport Committee who presented the Trust’s submission to Greater Wellington chair Fran Wilde this week.
Wellington’s diversity – from the quirkiness of Cuba Street’s Left Bank graffiti art to the scale of Waitangi Park – was reflected in the latest Civic Trust Awards announced on September 18th at a reception on Level 3 of Te Papa.
The Wellington Civic Trust Awards competition, held every two years, attracted 40 entries over five categories – architecture, open space, heritage, street art, and public sculpture. Every entry had to be for an addition completed within the last three years.
Judging was by specialist panels for each category, with a popular vote – by post and website – for the Sculpture category.
Deputy Mayor Ian McKinnon announced the Supreme Award – the best of the best – which was for Waitangi Park, designed by Wraight Athfield for Wellington Waterfront Ltd. The Deputy Mayor, noting that aspects of Waitangi Park were also winners of two of the category awards, congratulated the Civic Trust on its initiative and specially thanked founding sponsors Oroya and Pat Day.
Civic Trust Chairman Seddon Bennington thanked all those involved with each project entered for their excellence and quality. “You have helped raise the bar for urban design excellence in Wellington” he said.
The Annual Report was delivered by the Chair, Dr Seddon Bennington at the AGM on May 26th at Turnbull House.