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From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
The West Coast can expect a busy State highway maintenance programme this year.
In a presentation last week by the NZ Transport Agency to the West Coast Regional Transport Committee, regional relationships director James Caygill said the summer … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
The West Coast can expect a busy State highway maintenance programme this year.
In a presentation last week by the NZ Transport Agency to the West Coast Regional Transport Committee, regional relationships director James Caygill said the summer maintenance programme for the region would be significant.
It followed a question from committee member Peter Haddock about the previously promised State Highway 7 Stoney Creek bridge replacement in the Grey Valley.
Caygill said he could give some progress reports on what was set out in the three year Regional Land Transport Plan for the Coast, including the maintenance programme, but could not give a detailed answer on Stoney Creek.
"I know we've got a large national maintenance programme, I know we have a significant maintenance programme for the West Coast this coming summer," he said.
"We got through quite a lot last year; we've got much more this year, not least of which because we kind of had to de-programme the first year of the three-year (plan) because of the way the funding announcements came through."
The West Coast was in "the same boat" as the rest of the country, with regional roads increasingly displaying potholes and patching, Caygill said,.
"I'll come back on Stoney Creek."
The wooden one-lane bridge accident blackspot is currently subject to a 30kph speed restriction. A replacement was promised by the former National government at the time the new Taramakau Bridge was announced about 2016.
In a follow-up, NZTA said it was progressing the Stoney Creek project but gave no clarity about the timeframe.
"The single stage business case report is now completed so staff are seeking approval for the business case which will be lined up nationally against other projects," staff said.
However, deteriorating road pavement - including in Kumara, Greymouth and at Paroa - are scheduled for resurfacing this summer.
NZTA West Coast maintenance contract manager Moira Whinham said the summer programme would include resurfacing 138km of chip seal over 75 sites across the region at a cost of $3.3 million.
In addition, 17,000 square metres of asphalt renewal was planned over five sites, including the Otira Gorge and High St, Greymouth, at a cost of $2.3m.
"We will also be undertaking significant pavement repair works on State Highway 6 in Paroa and State Highway 73 in Kumara.
"We will have teams undertaking pavement repairs including pre-reseal repairs throughout the network as required on an ongoing basis as the weather improves."
Whinham said road users may have short delays doing the work.
Maintaining a safe following distance and slowing down would minimise the chance of loose stone chip damaging vehicles and windscreens.
"Sticking to speed limits through work sites will help keep our teams safe while they're out there working in pretty hot conditions," she said.
*Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Calls to revise the road layout at either end of the Cobden Bridge at Greymouth could cost $2 million, the West Coast Regional Transport Committee (RTC) has been warned.
The State Highway 6 road bridge, linking the main part of Greymouth with the… View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Calls to revise the road layout at either end of the Cobden Bridge at Greymouth could cost $2 million, the West Coast Regional Transport Committee (RTC) has been warned.
The State Highway 6 road bridge, linking the main part of Greymouth with the suburb of Cobden, Runanga and the Coast Road through to Westport, has become increasingly congested, with regular crashes on the intersections at either end of the bridge.
NZ Transport Agency regional relationships director James Caygill said a fix was likely to be costly and would need to be assessed against other priorities.
"I don't think it will be less than $2m," Caygill said.
However, he told the committee he was happy to put the Cobden Bridge "on the list" but it was likely to be considered within minor works.
The discussion came after Atarau resident Ray Beckford called for NZTA to install a roundabout at the Cobden end of the bridge due to traffic backing up over the bridge as motorists tried to exit either end.
Beckford said believed it might be "a simple solution to the constant congestion and frequent accidents" at either end of the bridge.
He gave a pre-Covid example of when the West Coast was still busy with extra visitor traffic.
"I can remember an instance in which I suffered road rage, in disbelief, as I was waiting for a chance to turn on to the bridge coming from Coal Creek. But the cars were backed up all the way across the bridge."
He also flagged the 100kph open road zone "dangerous" intersection at Barrytown, where State highway 6 intersects with Cargill Rd beside the All Nations Hotel.
There was "a constant renewal" of skid marks in front of the pub, he said.
In Greymouth, the speed zone on State highway 6 past Karoro School, and the Tasman St link to the main road opposite that school had resulted in "too many close calls".
West Coast RTC member Peter Haddock said the issues raised were wider "local concerns".
Traffic had increased locally, with "large queues" on the bridge and a notable crash rate, Haddock said.
It would be good to investigate as the existing road layout dating from when it was built, in 1975.
"We've got a lot more traffic on our roads, even without the tourist vehicles," Haddock said.
"I think you are aware that the approaches to both ends of the bridge need upgrading ... the bridge has been there quite a number of years now."
Haddock noted himself the difficulty at Barrytown of trying to exit Cargill Road on to the main road and being caught out by speeding traffic on the state highway.
*Public interest journalism funded by NZ On Air
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From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Fears the West Coast might lose some of its road funding due to tourists disappearing during Covid-19 has been ruled out.
And the question of low fatalities in the region in the past few years due to traffic volumes dropping radically, will not … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Fears the West Coast might lose some of its road funding due to tourists disappearing during Covid-19 has been ruled out.
And the question of low fatalities in the region in the past few years due to traffic volumes dropping radically, will not necessarily disadvantage the region, the West Coast Regional Transport Committee has heard.
During a recent meeting, West Coast Regional Council representative Peter Ewen asked if Waka Kotahi (NZTA) kept a database of fatalities for the region.
Regional relationships director James Caygill said the Coast had few fatalities "because the population is low".
Caygill said the Coast stats could easily be skewed.
In 2019, the last full tourist season, there had been 22 serious "severe injury" crashes with the overall total of 25 including three road deaths.
Caygill said the West Coast numbers were relatively low compared with the neighbouring region of Canterbury, which had 365 death and serious injury crashes in 2019.
Another factor was how crash data arrived in the system. For instance the way police entered official data "doesn't take into account near misses".
However, if all crashes were looked at from a health and safety point of view then a near miss was "just as important to capture", Caygill said.
Other factors like the backlog in the coronial process was a factor affecting the statistics.
However site specific crash data was available and the NZTA was working with the police to record crash factors when entering data, including impairment, driver distraction, and speed.
NZTA speed management project team member Mike Creamer said research suggested for every fatality there had been 600 near misses.
"For that reason the way we are talking about the roads now is not whether the crashes are occurring, but where is the risk?"
Those risks included the road shape, traffic volumes, and alignment. Statistics did not tell "the full story" and were only indicative of where a road issue might be.
"There's an awful lot of anecdotal evidence of a lot of crashes on a particular stretch of road," Creamer said.
Caygill said they were "painfully aware" Covid-19 had changed West Coast road crash statistics on particular roads.
"But I'm not sure that we can declare victory because [crash] numbers are going down and therefore pull funding out of the region and take it somewhere else.
"We've still got an underlying risk that we need to manage and if and when tourism returns, in the way it did or some new way."
Doing nothing would see the stats rise again.
"I wouldn't worry that those statistics in the short term are going to lead to a decision to move funding elsewhere. We're interested in the underlying risk."
* Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
New property valuations would have netted the West Coast Regional Council an extra $700,000 - a 17% rates yield on top of the 10% increase already approved this financial year.
Instead, the council decided last night to "keep faith" … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
New property valuations would have netted the West Coast Regional Council an extra $700,000 - a 17% rates yield on top of the 10% increase already approved this financial year.
Instead, the council decided last night to "keep faith" with the 10% increase it had notified in the annual plan, and to make internal adjustments to contain what might have been a whopping 27% rates increase.
Last year the council imposed a 30% increase on West Coast ratepayers.
Councillor John Hill, of Buller, asked for clarification that if the council did nothing the rates would increase a further 17%.
Acting corporate services manager Marc Ferguson confirmed that, noting that would also be additional to the 10% already struck in the annual plan.
Quotable Value valuations effective from July 1 had unexpectedly affected the regional council's projected yield for the 2022-23 rates strike, coming just two days after councillors set a 10% increase. The new valuations automatically bumped that up 15% which, with other adjustments, would have resulted in the extra 17%.
Ferguson said if staff had applied the factors set out in the annual plan "it would have reflected a 17% increase," or about $700,000 of extra income.
The main increases in the region would have been for the Grey district, by about 32%, compared to 2 to 3% for Westland and Buller districts.
Ferguson said they were conscious of the current economic environment for ratepayers and the recommendation was to "keep the yield as it was originally".
Councillors agreed, and councillor Laura Coll-McLaughlin, of Buller, summed it up: "We needed a certain budget, and it was just about how we got there (by adjusting) the machinery behind the scenes, and not taking more than what we intended".
Coll-McLaughlin suggested the council in future revisit the differential applied for each of the three districts.
She noted the Grey district represented about 43% of the capital values for the entire region yet it appeared the actual differential applied currently was set at about 39%.
Ferguson said there might an historical basis, "possibly linked to population in each of the areas".
Coll-McLaughlin said she saw that Westland had 30% of the capital value but noted it only had 20% of the region's population.
Councillor Peter Ewen noted the last 'on-line' census, considered to be "a bit of a fiasco" might be one factor in the differential settings.
"The figures we got for the West Coast would not be that accurate, I would think."
*Public interest journalism funded by NZ On Air
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
A site just north of Hokitika is being used to dispose of demolition material, including asbestos, from a fire damaged former Greymouth school, the West Coast Regional Council has confirmed.
The old Greymouth Intermediate School has been struck … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
A site just north of Hokitika is being used to dispose of demolition material, including asbestos, from a fire damaged former Greymouth school, the West Coast Regional Council has confirmed.
The old Greymouth Intermediate School has been struck by two fires, the latest in June, with a 1960s brick classroom block and 1970s-era fibro-lite clad buildings either gutted or very badly damaged.
Hokitika contractor Henry Adams started demolition on Tuesday for the owners, Mawhera Incorporation.
After the regional council became aware demolition had started it visited the school site, given the risk of hazardous material and how it might be disposed of, council consents and compliance manager Colin Helem said.
The contractor had confirmed demolition material was being carted to their authorised disposal site near Hokitika.
"The site is authorised to receive material that may be contaminated with waste containing asbestos," Helem said.
Henry Adams had held a consent since 2017 to dispose of approved demolition material at a Keoghans Rd site, near Hau Hau Creek and just north of Hokitika.
The site had previously been mined by the contractor.
Helem said a council compliance officer visited that site and established the operation to dispose of demolition material there was compliant with the consent.
"It has been inspected and there is no issue there."
Helem noted the demolition was likely to be complex due to the fire damage masking the type of material in the structure, including the presence of asbestos.
It meant the contractor would wet down material as it was being removed, he said.
The former school site has appeared increasingly neglected since Greymouth High School sold its Karoro Learning Centre about 2015 to private provider Frontline.
Frontline closed and vacated the site in July 2017 and tenure of the old school then reverted to Mawhera as the landowner.
* Public interest journalism is funded by NZ on Air
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has "little appetite to buy arguments" with local communities over speed limits, the West Coast Regional Transport Committee has heard.
Several West Coast speed hot spots on the books for some … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has "little appetite to buy arguments" with local communities over speed limits, the West Coast Regional Transport Committee has heard.
Several West Coast speed hot spots on the books for some time are still to be lowered, the committee heard this week.
These include the current 70kph zone outside Karoro School in Greymouth and the 70kph through Blacks Point near Reefton.
Karoro School has been calling for a review for several years, including lengthening the current 50kph speed zone which ends north of the school, near the Australasian Hotel, to replace the 70kph zone outside the school.
At Blacks Point, residents have been calling for a lower speed limit for decades including a recent plea to lower it to 30kph due to the blind spots, and people not slowing down on the winding section through the village.
Now the West Coast Regional Transport Committee, via the regional council, is required to co-ordinate input from road controlling agencies, including NZTA and district councils, for a regional speed management plan.
A report to the committee said the first full planning period for the new regional plan was likely to be the three years from July 2027.
It was not recommended the group prepare an interim regional speed management plan.
West Coast Regional Council strategy and communications manager Nichola Costley, said the first regional plan was not expected to be more than "a compilation process".
However, NZTA regional relationships director James Caygill said the agency would be consulting on an interim plan for the region before the 2024-27 period.
This could be as early as the end of this year or in early 2023.
It was expected to include all state highway 40kpm school speed zones on the West Coast.
"I would expect some school work and some minor tidy-ups," he said.
This included finishing off a review of the Blacks Point 70kph zone where residents had been "loud and clear".
Otherwise, no big surprises were expected in the interim plan, Caygill said.
Committee chairman Allan Birchfield said he thought the committee had already agreed to reduce the speed on State Highway 7 at Blacks Point, with a commitment to review the 100kph open road limit on the entire 59km of that road, from Reefton to Springs Junction.
Caygill said the agency had consulted and it was "interested in advancing speed reductions where they are acceptable for communities".
However, committee member Peter Haddock said the committee had made it clear in the past it did not want "widespread" speed reductions on long stretches of open road.
He gave the example of State Highway 73 and West Coasters apparently not wanting to be unnecessarily delayed on the road to go about their business in Canterbury, including urgent medical appointments.
Haddock understood from the agency that "people don't want to be chopping and changing all the time".
"But it's unacceptable on State Highway 73 where people have got certain times they have to get to Christchurch," he said.
"There is no doubt there are certain areas that need speed reductions to avoid crashes... but what we don't want to see is it going for 50 miles or 100km or something."
* Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
Dear neighbours,
Every month, NZ Gardener runs a series of tested reader recipes using a seasonal crop. We are now on the hunt for new potato recipes, so send your best ones to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz by Sept 25, 2022.
Every published recipe wins a copy of our special edition Vegetable … View moreDear neighbours,
Every month, NZ Gardener runs a series of tested reader recipes using a seasonal crop. We are now on the hunt for new potato recipes, so send your best ones to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz by Sept 25, 2022.
Every published recipe wins a copy of our special edition Vegetable Growing Made Easy.
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From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Interest in the future of Westport and the Buller District is intense, with the West Coast Regional Council leading the country for candidates contesting any one seat in the October local body elections.
As nominations drew to a close it looked … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Interest in the future of Westport and the Buller District is intense, with the West Coast Regional Council leading the country for candidates contesting any one seat in the October local body elections.
As nominations drew to a close it looked as though no-one would put their name forward for two seats in Buller.
However, a flood of last minute nominations saw 11 put up a hand and data released by Policy.nz, using their candidate comparison tool, shows the Buller seat has attracted the highest candidate interest for any single council ward in the country.
In Buller, the current sitting councillors Laura Coll-McLaughlin and John Hill are both stepping down after just three years.
Coll-McLaughlin, the youngest West Coast Regional councillor and one of just two women on the council, cited professional and family commitments but has not ruled out standing again in future.
Hill cited age and the need for younger members as a reason to step aside.
Both have previously mentioned the workload, which is expected to intensify in the next three years.
A raft of legislative reform affecting local government is ongoing, with more expected on top of significant infrastructure projects.
The regional council is also charged with ushering through the Te Tai o Poutini Plan (TTPP), a combined one district plan to replace the existing Buller, Grey and Westland district plans.
Both existing councillors sit on the TTPP Committee and the plan is now at the submissions stage.
The Buller reps also had to shoulder more work following the Westport floods.
The council oversaw the joint business proposal for a co-funded protection scheme of more than $50m and it awaits a Government decision.
If approved it would take several years to implement.
Regional council chairman Allan Birchfield attributed the good number of candidates to concerns about the future of Westport, and the outcome of the proposed Kawatiri Business Case for future flood resilience in particular.
Whoever won the seat would have their work cut out to ensure a fair deal.
"The stopbanks -- that would be the reason," Birchfield said.
"In their term the flood protection work will either go ahead or not."
According to Policy.nz the other most contested seats nationally are the Banks Peninsula ward for the Christchurch City Council (seven for one seat), Christchurch's Riccarton Ward (seven for one seat), and Wellington's Paekawakawa/Southern general ward with 10 candidates for two seats (five candidates per seat).
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
West Coast Civic leaders moved to pay tribute yesterday as flags were lowered to half mast and the country moved to an official mourning period of 14 days for New Zealand's longest serving Sovereign.
Condolence books were placed at all four… View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
West Coast Civic leaders moved to pay tribute yesterday as flags were lowered to half mast and the country moved to an official mourning period of 14 days for New Zealand's longest serving Sovereign.
Condolence books were placed at all four West Coast council offices, including the Westland District Council chambers in Hokitika, the West Coast Regional Council at Paroa, and at the Grey District Council chambers, for the public to pay tribute.
For Buller, a condolence book was placed at the council's Westport Brougham House and at its Inangahua Service Centre in Reefton. Flowers could also be left at the Gates of Remembrance in Westport.
The mayors of Westland, Grey, and Buller all paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth's strong example of unstinting public service over 70 years in the Commonwealth, ahead of anticipated public memorial services in the region and nationally.
All mayors and chairs are expected to attend the state memorial when it is announced.
West Coast Regional Council chairman Allan Birchfield said he would definitely be attending and said the Queen's example of "a moral compass" was admirable to him.
"I was always a bit of a royalist... She's held the royal family's moral compass all the way through."
He suspected her passing would bring unprecedented change to the institution in terms of her successor and wondered if it might be "the beginning of the end".
In a statement, the Department of Internal Affairs advised that on the death of the Queen, Prince Charles immediately became His Majesty King Charles III.
"The death of the Queen has the effect of transferring all the functions, duties, powers to the new King, but otherwise has no effect in law for any purpose (Constitution Act 1986, section 5(1))."
Various branches of Government had been making "discrete preparations" towards the day on which the Queen died.
"Planning is underway to ensure the delivery of events that will mark the Queen's passing, acknowledge the change of Head of State and allow New Zealanders to mourn."
At a national level, condolence books were being made available for the public to sign and people could leave messages at condolences@dia.govt.nz
DIA said a State Memorial Service would be held after the official service in London.
"We expect all mayors and regional council chairs will be invited. A brief ceremony, the Proclamation of Ascension, will be held in the next few days to officially declare the new sovereign as New Zealand's Head of State."
Flags across the city are being lowered to half-mast as Christchurch joins the rest of the Commonwealth in mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Queen, the world’s longest serving monarch, died on Friday morning at Balmoral, Scotland, at the age of 96.
In Christchurch, which the … View moreFlags across the city are being lowered to half-mast as Christchurch joins the rest of the Commonwealth in mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Queen, the world’s longest serving monarch, died on Friday morning at Balmoral, Scotland, at the age of 96.
In Christchurch, which the Queen visited nine times during her reign, flags are being flown at half-mast and condolence books are being opened at civic centres.
Mayor Lianne Dalziel said the Royal Family had been ardent supporters of the city, for which its residents would “always be grateful”.
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