Hurunui cash plea rejected by transport agency

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter

A North Canterbury council’s bid for road funding has been rejected as too costly by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA).

The Hurunui District Council requested to almost double its funding for the next three years, compared to the period 2021-24, NZTA director regional relationships director James Caygill said.

He said the council’s funding bid sought an increase of 184% from the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme.

‘‘This increase was amongst the highest sought nationally.’’

About the country, councils put in bids totalling $6.5 billion for the 2024-27 period, up 42% on the previous three year period, Caygill said.

‘‘The total bid put forward nationally was unaffordable to the National Land Transport Programme, making it difficult to honour everyone’s bid.’’

Caygill said the agency had approved Hurunui’s request for an increase of nearly 50% in its funding for road resealing, and it ‘‘should be adequate to maintain and renew its network’’.

But at a council meeting on June 25, council chief executive Hamish Dobbie described NZTA's response as ‘‘under-whelming’’.

‘‘It is extremely disappointing given the amount of work we put into getting our roading programme together and it looks like they (NZTA) didn’t even look at it.’’

NZTA’s overall funding had increased, but Hurunui’s allocation was not enough to fund the upgrades needed to ensure the resilience of the district’s roading network, he said.

But funding for increased resilience works and other improvements were assessed separately under the ‘‘Local Road Improvements Activity Class’’, and funding information had yet to be released.

The council has deferred the adoption of its long-term plan until July 15.

■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.