Oxford speed limit change rejected

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Northern Outlook

From local democracy reporter David Hill:

The speed limit on Oxford’s Main Street will remain at 50kph.

A motion to make a request to the Waka Kotahi NZ Agency (NZTA) director to reduce the speed limit from 50kph to 40kph was lost after a split vote at last week’s Waimakariri District Council meeting.

The report was brought to council by the Oxford-Ohoka Community Board in response to residents’ concerns about safety, particularly for those with vision impairments.

The council had previously rejected a proposal to reduce the speed limit to 40kph as recently as December last year.

At the time council staff cited the cost of around $450,000 being needed to make the necessary infrastructure and traffic calming changes.

But the proposal was revisited following the approval of the Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2022 by Transport Minister Michael Wood, which took effect in May 2022.

During last year’s community engagement, 54% of respondents were in favour of reducing the speed limit, with 46% in favour of keeping the existing speed limit.

Mayor Dan Gordon said the council would continue ‘‘to look at methods and strategies to reduce concerns about safety in the community’’.

Councillors also voted to revoke the council’s Speed Limit Bylaw (2022), now the new Setting of Speed Limits Rule has come into force.

The new rule required all councils’ speed limit data to be migrated to a national speed limit register and removed the need for the bylaw.

The Hurunui District Council completed a thorough speed limit review two years ago.

Chief executive Hamish Dobbie did not expect any changes as a result of the new setting of speed limits rule.

‘‘We consulted widely, on 1600km of roads in our district and it was not only about speed, but also about safety.

‘‘We have a good relationship with NZTA and we continue to have discussions on whether our speed limits are appropriate.’’

Dobbie said the speed limit for southern entrance to Amberley was the subject of ongoing discussions, and the new rule would simplify the process in the future.