—christmas!

Updated post
Tue, 3 Jan 2016 at 2:27 a.m.

Hype O’Thermia
December 25, 2016 at 12:59 pm
Residents delighted with DCC contractors’ quick response to fixogram about pothole. “It used to take forever to get anything done,” said “Jimbo” who asked us not to publish his full name.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Non-arterial Riccarton Road : Brian Miller stirred by community board

ODT 28.5.16 (page 30)

ODT 17.5.16 (page 8)

[click to enlarge]
DCC Webmap – Riccarton Road, Mosgiel JanFeb 2013

Related Posts and Comments:
5.6.14 DCC Transport Strategy and Riccarton Road
24.4.14 DCC promotes Riccarton Rd as sole heavy traffic bypass

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Delta #EpicFail —Noble Subdivision : [rephrased] Conflict of Interest

Election Year : The following opinion is offered in the public interest. -Eds

—

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Sun, 13 Mar 2016 at 6:00 p.m.

Dear Readers and What –if Mobsters

Your correspondent is given to understand there are several of you who enjoy his posts, which is certainly gratifying to him, if not to the DCC. However readers are taxing mistresses, they demand fresh and current material for their reading pleasure.

Discerning readers of taste and sophistication, of which you are without exception, are firmly of the view that there is nothing as old as yesterday’s news, and tonight’s post is indeed recycled and somewhat elderly. But wait, as Noble Investments Ltd said to the Judge Osbourne, I can explain why I have reneged on my obligations….

This week Mr Graham Crombie did more than re-release Delta CEO Grady Cameron’s press release. He advised What if? that he considered this post below “defamatory” to Mr McKenzie. And said that in effect he will soon have a letter from his lawyers about this. Although, What if? hasn’t actually seen the letter yet. We think it is in Mr Crombie’s other pocket, tangled up with some minties wrappers and the latest Harcourt’s update on the Noble Subdivision mortgagee sale process. Yes, that document has gone missing too.

This Correspondent was cut to the quick. Him ? Defamatory ? A Tom Kain Klone ? Forsooth, he faints at the sight of his own blood !

Friends, Romans, Dunedinites, I come not to bury Mr McKenzie but to praise him. (Eventually).

Here is the post, with all traces of defamation removed…. for Mr Crombie’s reading pleasure….

****

Certain of you, have commented how in recent Council meetings DCC GCFO Grant McKenzie has several times now said he has a “conflict of interest”, when the question of the DCHL financial performance is raised by Councillors. He does not look comfortable in those situations.

OK, so what is this conflict of interest ? Mr McKenzie is the financial eyes and ears of the DCC. He is employed to preserve and maintain the financial stability of the DCC. This includes managing the hundreds of millions of debt that the DCC and its DCHL companies have; and having full oversight of the DCHL companies, which are in theory meant to be significant revenue generators for the DCC. (But, as Mr McKenzie admitted to Cr Lee Vandervis recently, DCHL companies will generate ZERO income (ie dividends) to the DCC for the next three years at least). However, despite the lack of dividends, they are still very significant DCC assets and it is completely right that Mr McKenzie should know in detail what is going on at DCHL.

This correspondent does not see how a conflict of interest can arise.

DCHL companies, owned by DCC, are for the sole purpose of generating a financial return to ease the rates burden. The historical amount of contributions provided by DCHL is shouted from the rooftops at every available opportunity by DCHL boosters. To this correspondent, there are only two ways in which Mr McKenzie could have “a conflict of interest” as he describes it. One is if the actions of the DCHL companies exceeded the risk profile that Mr McKenzie felt was appropriate for a DCC owned entity. The other is if the DCHL Companies were not in fact providing full or accurate information about their activities or intended activities to DCC or the elected representatives, and placing DCC at risk that way.

Readers, and Mr McKenzie, need to remember that Mr Larsen said in his report that the DCC needed to have a very low threshold for commercial risk, and much better communication. Mr McKenzie is there to make sure that DCHL doesn’t exceed a very low risk threshold and to tell us what he has found there. Tick the boxes for those items.

But who is paying Mr McKenzie ? The answer is the DCC. Therefore Mr McKenzie does not have a conflict of interest. He has a clear obligation to disclose to Council and ratepayers anything that is of concern at DCHL. He is not paid by council to shuffle from one foot to the other and claim a conflict of interest when asked questions of DCHL financial performance.

We should spare a thought for Mr McKenzie. He is the senior DCC staff member that has to represent the DCC’s interests. Those interests, first and foremost are to ensure that those DCC owned DCHL companies operate with a very low threshold for commercial risk. On the other hand, against him are legions of DCHL directors, who, if nothing else, appear extremely good at sugar coating bad news, or cloaking it in such a way as to make discerning the facts extremely difficult. (Mr Crombie, please read the Auditor-General’s report before you go reaching into your pocket). Add that to the subtle and not so subtle peer pressure, and it is easy to see Mr McKenzie has a tough job safeguarding the interests of ratepayers in respect of DCHL.

Refer to the video record (Part 1 and Part 2) for the full council meeting of 22 February 2016. This correspondent believes there is a (very) high possibility Mr McKenzie has not been told the full facts about Delta at Noble, or it has been spun to him with a few key, inconvenient facts omitted. If this is in fact correct and he acknowledged this, and then advised the city what he does know and provided an accurate assessment of the actual risk to ratepayer funds against the allowable “very low risk” threshold, he would have the support of DCC upper management and probably a job for life – if he wanted it.

Mr McKenzie would not have to look too far to find inspiration or a precedent in Dunedin. Just a couple of blocks away at the Hospital in fact. In 2008 the recently appointed Health Board Chief Financial Officer, Robert Mackway-Jones, discovered some unusual transactions that was of course the $16.9M Michael Swann fraud. Mr Mackway-Jones didn’t let up, pushed the issue and found that neither the Board Chair, Mr Richard Thomson, nor the Board CEO, knew of the transactions. Mr Mackway-Jones was the hero of the Swann case; and Mr McKenzie only has to present the facts to Dunedin ratepayers to achieve the same status.

This correspondent understands Mr McKenzie is already well regarded within DCC upper ranks. But if he did this he would be so popular with Dunedin ratepayers he could run for Mayor next time around….

Dunedin ratepayers just need Mr McKenzie to represent their interest, and forsake the tea and cakes, and mutual backslapping with DCHL Directors.

This will mean clashes with the DCHL directors at times……..

Tis food for thought, mobsters (as the Clash would say…. Revolution Rock, London Calling, 1979).

—

Related Posts and Comments:
● 11.3.16 Delta peripheral #EpicFail : Stonewood Homes & ancient Delta history
● 6.3.16 Delta #EpicFail —Noble Subdivision : Tea & Taxing Questions
● 6.3.16 Delta #EpicFail —Nobel Subdivision : A Neighbour responds
● 5.3.16 Delta #EpicFail —Noble Subdivision —Epic Fraud
● 4.3.16 Delta —Noble Subdivision #EpicStorm Heading OUR WAY
● 4.3.16 Delta #EpicFail Noble Subdivision : Councillors know NOTHING
● 2.3.16 Delta #EpicFail Noble Subdivision : A Dog, or a RAVING YAPPER?….
● 1.3.16 Delta #EpicFail… —The Little Finance Company that did (Delta).
29.2.16 Healthy views Monday midnight to 6:00 p.m.
● 29.2.16 Delta #EpicFail Noble Subdivision : NBR interested in bidders
● 28.2.16 Delta #EpicFail Noble… If I were a rich man / Delta Director
● 27.2.16 Delta #EpicFail Noble Subdivision Consent : Strictly Optional
● 27.2.16 Delta #NUCLEAR EpicFail —Noble Subdivision : Incompetent…
● 25.2.16 Delta #EpicFail: Mayor Cull —Forced Sale Fundamentals 101
● 24.2.16 Delta #EpicFail —Noble Subdivision: Cameron, Crombie & McKenzie
● 23.2.16 DCC: DCHL half year result to 31 December 2015
19.2.16 Delta: Update on Yaldhurst subdivision debt recovery
15.2.16 Delta / DCHL not broadcasting position on subdivision mortgagee tender
30.1.16 DCC Rates: LOCAL CONTEXT not Stats —Delta and Hippopotamuses
● 29.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision ● Some forensics
● 21.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision
21.1.16 DCC LTAP 2016/17 budget discussion #ultrahelpfulhints
10.1.16 Infrastructure ‘open to facile misinterpretation’…. or local ignore
15.12.15 Noble property subdivision aka Yaldhurst Village | Mortgagee Tender
21.9.15 DCC: Not shite (?) hitting the fan but DVL
20.7.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA #LGOIMA
1.4.15 Christchurch subdivisions: Heat gone?
24.3.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA
23.3.15 Noble property subdivision: “Denials suggest that we have not learned.”
17.3.15 DCC —Delta, Jacks Point Luggate II…. Noble property subdivision

● Gold Band Finance Prospectus No. 31 Dated 22 April 2015
View this 126pp document via the NZ Companies website at: https://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/321896/documents — go to Prospectus uploaded 23 Apr 2015 14:33

● 14.5.14 (via DCC website) Larsen Report February 2012
A recent governance review of the Dunedin City Council companies was conducted by Warren Larsen.

● 20.3.14 Delta: Report from Office of the Auditor-General
Inquiry into property investments by Delta Utility Services Limited at Luggate and Jacks Point

█ For more, enter the term *delta* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: the-rudy.com – The Clash Revolution Rock w2 tee

Delta peripheral #EpicFail : Stonewood Homes and ancient Delta history

Received from Chrsitchurch Driver [CD]
Fri, 11 Mar 2016 at 1:35 a.m.

Your correspondent is going to meander down some tangential subdivision side streets tonight (not the main collector road, the excavator won’t fit on those….) and consider the curious case of Stonewood Homes.

It was probably inevitable given the very shallow gene pool that South Island companies fish in for independent directors, that a name would pop up that had also had some previous form with Delta.

However, before we excavate that particular trench, let’s consider why the shoring gave way on Stonewood, why the temporary support from the bank buckled and the subsequent structural failure – (the engineering metaphors are flying thick and fast tonight….)

Your correspondent is very bemused at the vast sums that a large number of building and engineering companies seem to be able to generate – in the negative. An internet search shows a long and regular list of failures. (Delta Civil Division would doubtless have joined them had it not had ratepayer funds to prop it up). Hartner Construction in 2001, about $20M, Wellington Construction in 2012 (unknown), Mainzeal Construction in 2013 (between $60-130M, dependent on if related party transactions can be unwound) and, closer to home, Southland’s own Amalgamated Builders (also with a branch in Dunedin) who managed to lose $20M in just two years when they bought a reputable Auckland company, Goodall Construction, renamed it Goodall ABL and then proceeded to destroy it in 2001.

There is some illuminating information online that shows the insane amount of risk that companies in the construction sector assume for what appears to be very little reward.

In the ABL Goodall case, property commentator Bob Dey described Goodall ABL as “a victim of trying to win market share on no margin, with a maximum guaranteed price contract in place”. Quite why anyone would seek to perform somewhere between $60-80M of work in two years for no return sounds like Delta-level stupidity, and certainly, the result was the same : ABL Goodall went so comprehensively broke, mainly with subcontractors’ money, that it was a major catalyst for the Government of the day to introduce the Construction Contracts Act in 2002 which provided some protection for Subcontractors. Proof that Southlanders do have some uses other than milking cows (readers, I jest).

Delta may yet provide compelling evidence for the Government to remove the “power of general competence” that Territorial Authorities received from the Government in 2002 that started many down the path towards illusory piles of gold that vanished in a mirage, along with a lot of public funds.

Memo To Mr Crombie : The CCC have admitted defeat and are trying to sell their Delta equivalent, City Care : why not join up and make it a two-for-one deal ?

But back to Stonewood. A trio of heavy hitters arrived in February 2014 to help fix the Stonewood Homes brand. In the press release it was noted that in 2013, Stonewood had consented 407 homes, had a turnover of $133M, and was aiming for 500 consents in 2014.

Your correspondent now will do something unheard of – making excuses for Delta…. as follows :

Building houses is not the same as civil contracting or commercial building. Those sectors all indulge in unique one off projects, with different specifications, different designers and engineers who have different standards. Lots of risk with ground conditions, legal disputes are legion.

But “group” housing is just different variations on the same cookie cutter. Standard designs, tweaked a little here and there, flat sites, lots of repetition, production line type processes. Houses started and finished around 14-16 weeks. Deposits before you start, a sales force to keep the numbers flowing. Any amount of back costing and analysis off repetitive designs to check what the numbers should be. It’s all been done before, lots of other companies are doing it so “benchmarking” your company against your competitors is easy.

Stonewood weren’t building difficult or expensive homes : Their average house cost around $325,000 in 2013. (Turnover of $133M for 407 homes).

Receivers KordaMentha confirmed that Stonewood had built up “significant” debt since the earthquake. Let us assume that Stonewood’s losses began in 2012 continuing in 2013, 2014, 2015. The loss is currently $30M. Your correspondent understands that the ASB is owed $5M and that typically, of the 110 houses underway at any one time, only 30 were profitable, and this was known within the company.

That Stonewood were unable to make any money at all, but instead went deeper into debt over a four-year period of huge demand is certainly testament to some Delta-level management deficiencies. One, or one and a half years of losses is grave but understandable, two to three is indefensible, and four years just plain carelessness !

Assuming an average turnover of about $115-120M per year (ie a peak turnover of $133M in 2013), this means that each year they lost $7.5M on average. (It was probably less in 2012, a lot more in 2015).

Put another way, on every house they built, over a four-year period, they lost around $21,000. Yes, they can definitely have a seat at the Delta table. And one Stonewood Director has sat at that table before, and that is Mr Jim Boult.

Now Mr Boult, while no Tom Kain in terms of litigation, certainly knows his way to his lawyer’s office, so this correspondent shall confine his comments to the facts :

Mr Boult, you may recall, had a 50/50 Joint Venture (JV) with Delta on the failed Luggate Development, where Delta lost $5.9M. Delta’s terms there were similar to Noble : A $5M advance to cover the subdivision work, payable only when the sections were sold.

Mr Boult utilised a valuer on behalf of the JV who had previously valued the land for his company. The valuer, in calculating the value of the land assumed a figure of $55,000 per section for Development costs. The actual cost was $105,000 per section. The valuer assessed the value of the land Delta bought a 50% share in, at $10.7M. There were potentially 172 sections that could be developed on the land. Six of the 172 sections were sold. The remaining land, with (a relatively small amount of) Delta’s improvements, was eventually sold…. for $1.5M. This information is all contained in the Auditor-General’s Report (14 March 2014).

A small but noteworthy detail included in the Auditor-General’s report was that the terms of the Joint Venture meant that Delta staff were not paid for any time they spent on the JV or the project, unless it was directly related to the Civil Work. A Project Management firm, Signal, was employed to manage the project. However Mr Boult sought and received $5,000 per month “for his time” spent on the Luggate JV.

Back to Stonewood, it turns out that Mr Boult was unable to make any difference to turn around Stonewood’s fortunes in 2015. Mr Boult’s enthusiasm for Stonewood : “I am truly delighted to be the chair and help guide the company in its future direction” lasted just 12 months. Nonetheless he obviously saw something he liked at Stonewood as he confirmed last week that he had quit as a Director of Stonewood on 1 February 2016, because, in concert with some employees of Stonewood and some franchisees, he was trying to buy Stonewood. This seems unusual behaviour for the chair of a large company, but then your correspondent is not a member of the Institute of Directors, and is uncertain of the usual directorial protocols about directors or chairmen of the board trying to buy a company they just resigned from last week. Perhaps a reader experienced in such matters could provide enlightenment.

Yes readers, I can sense your impatience : Join the dots you say ! This correspondent’s opinion, and it is only an opinion from the outside looking in, is that Mr Boult, was looking to buy not only Stonewood, but is most likely involved with a mortgagee sale bid to purchase the Noble Subdivision at Yaldhurst. The intention being that Stonewood would be the builder of the subdivision, both effectively controlled by Mr Boult.

Mr Boult knows the subdivision business, and he now has an inside view of how housing companies are run (or more accurately, how not to run one).

Despite Mr Boult’s defeat at the hands of the Brothers Chow in respect of Stonewood, a bid for Noble may well be attractive to him.

Now given Mr Boult’s history with Delta, it would seem highly likely that if this were the case, there would have been some contact between Mr Boult and his people and Delta.

Can Delta or its Directors or Mr Crombie confirm ? And of course as is the refrain, that no more public funds will be put at risk ?

—

New Zealand Companies register: Delta Utility Services Limited (453486)

█ Directors: David John Frow (appointed 25 Oct 2012), Trevor John Kempton (01 Nov 2013), Stuart James McLauchlan (01 Jun 2007), Ian Murray Parton (25 Oct 2012)

More: Historic data for directors

Related Posts and Comments:
● 10.3.16 Noble Subdivision next on the shopping list !!! You couldn’t…
● 6.3.16 Delta #EpicFail —Noble Subdivision : Tea & Taxing Questions
● 6.3.16 Delta #EpicFail —Nobel Subdivision : A Neighbour responds
● 5.3.16 Delta #EpicFail —Noble Subdivision —Epic Fraud
● 4.3.16 Delta —Noble Subdivision #EpicStorm Heading OUR WAY
● 4.3.16 Delta #EpicFail Noble Subdivision : Councillors know NOTHING
● 2.3.16 Delta #EpicFail Noble Subdivision : A Dog, or a RAVING YAPPER?….
● 1.3.16 Delta #EpicFail… —The Little Finance Company that did (Delta).
● 29.2.16 Delta #EpicFail Noble Subdivision : NBR interested in bidders
● 28.2.16 Delta #EpicFail Noble… If I were a rich man / Delta Director
● 27.2.16 Delta #EpicFail Noble Subdivision Consent : Strictly Optional
● 27.2.16 Delta #NUCLEAR EpicFail —Noble Subdivision : Incompetent…
● 25.2.16 Delta #EpicFail: Mayor Cull —Forced Sale Fundamentals 101
● 24.2.16 Delta #EpicFail —Noble Subdivision : Cameron, Crombie & McKenzie
● 23.2.16 DCC: DCHL half year result to 31 December 2015
19.2.16 Delta: Update on Yaldhurst subdivision debt recovery
15.2.16 Delta / DCHL not broadcasting position on subdivision mortgagee tender
30.1.16 DCC Rates: LOCAL CONTEXT not Stats —Delta and Hippopotamuses
● 29.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision ● Some forensics
● 21.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision
21.1.16 DCC LTAP 2016/17 budget discussion #ultrahelpfulhints
10.1.16 Infrastructure ‘open to facile misinterpretation’…. or local ignore
15.12.15 Noble property subdivision aka Yaldhurst Village | Mortgagee Tender
21.9.15 DCC: Not shite (?) hitting the fan but DVL
20.7.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA #LGOIMA
1.4.15 Christchurch subdivisions: Heat gone?
24.3.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA
23.3.15 Noble property subdivision: “Denials suggest that we have not learned.”
17.3.15 DCC —Delta, Jacks Point Luggate II…. Noble property subdivision

● Gold Band Finance Prospectus No. 31 Dated 22 April 2015
View this 126pp document via the NZ Companies website at: https://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/321896/documents — go to Prospectus uploaded 23 Apr 2015 14:33

● 14.5.14 (via DCC website) Larsen Report February 2012
A recent governance review of the Dunedin City Council companies was conducted by Warren Larsen.

● 20.3.14 Delta: Report from Office of the Auditor-General
Inquiry into property investments by Delta Utility Services Limited at Luggate and Jacks Point

█ For more, enter the term *delta* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

*Images: (top) stonewood.co.nz – Chow Bros | stuff.co.nz – Jim Boult by Stacy Squires

Delta #EpicFail —Noble Subdivision : Tea & Taxing Questions

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Sun, 6 Mar 2016 at 10:23 p.m.

Mr Crombie has spoken. A press release on Thursday : Something old, something new, something borrowed, with no clue.

Your correspondent has a theory in relation to Mr Crombie’s press release. Your correspondent surmises that a copy of Delta CEO Grady Cameron’s press release appears to have stuck to Mr Crombie’s saucer (stress – jiggling – spillage !!) when he was having tea and cakes in Mr Cameron’s office last week, and Mr Crombie absent mindedly put it in his pocket. Mr Crombie being a busy man then noticed it a few days later amidst some empty Cadbury Favourites wrappers and Kit-Kat bars. Thinking that he was meant to have done something, and with Grady’s cell phone off, he panics, and emails off the release, which of course is a re-run of Mr Cameron’s effort.

Mr Crombie did say there had been “some misinformation” about the mortgagee sale process. There certainly has, and it is all from Delta and its directors.

Your correspondent and Delta are of one mind here : There is no need for any confusion, Dunedinites will have a lot less suspicion and worry if we had accurate information that Delta and its Directors were not the white collar robbers of the DCC public purse that your correspondent has made them out to be.

To this end, some public minded citizens might want to put in a LGOIMA request, or perhaps write to the ODT with the following questions for Delta, to assist with the excellent What if? efforts on Noble to date.

Let us relax with a cup of Bell’s best and have our fears assuaged. Or perhaps, let us watch the twists and turns of outrageous logic that Mr Cameron will use to explain away these very simple questions :

How much of the $3.3M Delta paid to “strengthen its position” has been paid to Gold Band and Avanti Finance. This is an easy one for starters – readers of course know the answer ($2.7M) because Gold Band have told us, but if Delta get this wrong, we then know it has a telling-the-truth problem as well as previously canvassed numbers, counting and comprehension problems.

What was the remaining funds of the $3.3M spent on ?

Or in case this isn’t clear enough :

How much of the $3.3M has been paid for any advice, fees, or any other sort of payment in relation to the Noble Yaldhurst Subdivision, that was not for the actual direct purchase of first mortgage securities ?

In regard to the question above, who was this money paid to ?

How much Head Office staff time has been spent on the Noble Subdivision since December 2009 and has it been charged to the project ?

Did Delta, or any party associated with Delta, instruct, or convey to Gold Band Finance in any way, that Delta would not allow Gold Band to sell its first mortgage security to other parties (ie, other than Delta) with an interest in the land ?

Can Delta confirm that it will not offer vendor finance, and will not enter into a profit / revenue sharing agreement to the eventual purchaser of the land from the mortgagee sale process ?

Can Delta confirm that in addition to the above, it will not offer any kind of assistance to the eventual purchaser of the land ?

How much has Delta or DCHL paid Mr M Frost for any services related to the Noble Subdivision since 2012 ?

Can Delta confirm that no past or present Delta Directors, and also Mr J Boult, and Mr M Frost, are not involved, or offered any kind of advice or assistance to any of the mortgagee sale bidders ?

Is it true that due to recent developments, and subsequent to the date that tenders closed for the mortgagee sale, the firm conducting the mortgagee sale process, and/or other parties, has been urging other parties, who did not make a bid, to make a bid, even though tenders have closed ?

Given that we are dealing with Delta, perhaps readers should just consider three at most per request so as not to overtax Delta capacities.

These are all critical questions. Memo to Grady and Graham : Better to answer them now, the next time these questions are asked you will be best advised to have a lawyer – your own personal lawyer that you pay for, not a Delta one – present. (Suggestion : NOT the ones that wrote the security sharing deed….). Memo to Graham : $900 a day will not go far on lawyers’ costs.

And Graham : Note to Self : Conduct cost / benefit and personal risk register of Delta involvement. (Memo to Grady : At a salary of $2,090 per working day, hire whatever lawyer you want).

Alert readers will have noticed some of these questions suggest there are yet more horror stories and shady dealings your correspondent wishes to bring to the surface. Indeed there are, but let us have Delta’s position first, to avoid speculation. Of course we will have no option to speculate if nothing is forthcoming, and speculate we will.

For your correspondent, Delta at the Noble Subdivision is the gift that keeps on giving.

█ For more, enter the term *delta* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta #EpicFail —Nobel Subdivision : A Neighbour responds

Comment received in reply to CD’s latest post (5.3.16):

Chutchings hut
March 5, 2016 at 9:06 am

The neighbours have a history of objecting, they are not the innocents you portray. The allegations about inadequate infrastructure are nonsense.

—

A Neighbour responds
Sun, 6 Mar 2016 at 3:26 p.m.

“Chutchings hut”, your post here resembles that of C(hris) Hutching’s from NBR. Maybe you’re both?? Either way your posting here and his on NBR, respectfully, is unsubstantiated and misinformed as many have been by NIL during this sad saga. Allow me to enlighten you.

The CCC stormwater experts, an external peer review, and even NIL’s own stormwater designer Cardno have confirmed the stormwater infrastructure IS “inadequate”. Existing roads need to be dug and pipes upsized. I can send you whatever evidence you want?

Further, the road infrastructure is not only “inadequate”, it was found by the Independent Safety Audit [Dr Turner and other traffic experts] to be have “numerous serious safety issues that cause frequent serious injuries and deaths”.

This is why the Elected Council voted to quash the retrospective decision CCC staff procured non-notified to consent the unsafe roads they had already permitted to be constructed without consent.

You are right though that resident stakeholders in the subdivision (neighbours as you refer to them) have a history of objecting, that’s because they have had much to object about. Your post here that they are “not innocents”, and Chris Hutching’s information in NBR that the objections were “belated objections” … “after consents were obtained and the streetworks constructed” is not correct. Public information proves otherwise:-

• Affected residents that will have to use these roads objected from mid 2010 when the roads were being constructed without consent to grossly non-complying standards.

• NIL and CCC staff had agreed to these gross non-compliances behind-closed-doors.

• CCC staff oppressed the affected residents and denied them (and the public) their legal rights under the RMA to oppose the gross non-compliances and dangers.

• The illegally built roads were retrospectively consented 12 months after the objections, in July 2011. (This was 19 months after the variation application was made in December 2009 to make the main spine road 7.5m narrower than required. Doubling of traffic on the narrow roads due to non-notified increases in residential density and the commercial area came later).

• The Elected Council voted for the Independent Safety Audit (against CCC staff’s strong advice). It found the non-complying roads had “numerous serious safety issues that cause frequent serious injuries and deaths”. This caused the Elected Council to quash the wrong, unsafe and “unreasonable” (“RMA term”) decision that CCC staff’s oppression of affected parties and CCC staff’s false tailoring of expert reports ensured.

• Yours and Chris Hutching’s NBR misinformation on this is respectfully forgiven; many have been misinformed of facts in this sorry saga.

DCC Transport Strategy and Riccarton Road

### ODT Online Tue, 3 Jun 2014
Opinion
Transport strategy must respect personal needs
By Phil Cole
Dunedin has its own unique geographic, demographic and historical features that make any transportation planning in the city reliant on forward-thinking, rather than academic theoretical practices. The historical past of Dunedin’s transportation, however, should only be ignored at its peril. It is vitally important for Dunedin’s direction that any long-term transport planning is determined not by short-term populist ideas but by long-term growth, based on economic conditions, city development and people’s habits. It is equally important council land-use planning is closely aligned to, but does not determine, how the city can be rejuvenated.
Read more

****

Riccarton Rd resident Brian Miller said the council was not trying to reach a fair and reasonable settlement and valuations were being forced on landowners.

### ODT Online Wed, 4 Jun 2014
Offers prepared for land
By Shawn McAvinue
The land needed to widen Riccarton Rd will be obtained by statutory authority if a mutual agreement can not be met, Dunedin City Council roading projects engineer Evan Matheson says. […] Some landowners were hesitant to make land available, he said.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC: Slip in service levels, why?!

ODT 30.5.14 (page 12) [click to enlarge]

### ODT Online Mon, 19 May 2014
Councillor urges better standard of work
By Debbie Porteous
Parts of Dunedin are lacking basic maintenance and city council staff need to put pressure on contractors to improve their performance, a Dunedin city councillor says. Cr Andrew Noone, from the Waikouaiti-Chalmers ward, said the untidy state of roadside berms, gutters, ditches and creeks and an apparent slip in service levels were the main issues he heard about from constituents.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Roading network screwed by council staff

█ UNDEMOCRATIC—Council staff agendas are directing major changes to Dunedin’s road networks. Continued use of exclusive ‘workshops’ lacks transparency and accountability.

Cr Hilary Calvert asks ‘why councillors were not more involved in developing the strategic cases’. (ODT)

Cr Lee Vandervis says ‘the problems identified were based on ”absurd or probably false” assumptions’. (ODT)

STAFF ASSUMPTIONS
► There is too much parking in Dunedin
► Restricted parking will increase use of public transport
► Encouraging more people to cycle makes roads safer

### ODT Online Tue, 6 May 2014
Council notes roading strategic cases
By Debbie Porteous
The first step towards securing funding for major changes to Dunedin’s road networks has been taken by the Dunedin City Council, even though exactly what those changes will be is yet to be decided. Councillors yesterday noted council staff had taken the first of six steps in a new process for applying for funding from the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA).
Read more

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█ Strategic Case Development for Improvements to Dunedin’s Central City and Freight Network
Report – ISC – 05/05/2014 (PDF, 993.6 KB)

Excerpts from the report…

Council staff have recently submitted two Strategic Case applications to the NZ Transport Agency; one for investment to improve the access, mobility and safety of the Central City; and the other to enhance Dunedin’s Freight Network. Pending approval from the NZTA, Council staff will begin the Programme Business Case stage, where investment options and alternatives will begin to be developed and defined. Staff will seek Councillor support and input prior to the submission of the Programme Business Case to the NZ Transport Agency, anticipated to be later this year.

The NZ Transport Agency has recently adopted a Better Business Case approach to guide the planning and project development for investment applications. It is a principles-based approach that clearly links their investment goals to outcomes, and defines problems and their consequences thoroughly before solutions are considered. This approach ensures a shared view of problems and benefits early in the transport planning process. The business case approach encourages early engagement with stakeholders to confirm:
● fit with strategy and need to invest
● the way forward with short-listed options
● that the best value option is affordable and deliverable and that the risks are acceptable.

To execute many of the projects outlined in Dunedin’s Integrated Transport Strategy requires funding from external sources. A significant source of transportation funding is potentially available from the NZ Transport Agency. As detailed above, Council must now apply for funding from the NZ Transport Agency through their Better Business Case approach. This stepped approach ensures that any solutions are in response to clearly defined problems, and are aligned to the NZ Transport Agency’s investment goals.

Council staff held initial discussions with key stakeholders, the NZ Transport Agency and the Otago Regional Council to define the areas of focus for investment. The group agreed that the Council should focus on establishing two Strategic Cases: 1. Dunedin Central City: Access, Mobility and Safety; 2. Dunedin Freight Network. These areas strongly align with those set out in our Integrated Transport Strategy.

The first step of establishing the Strategic Case is to develop an Investment Logic Map (ILM). The ILMs set out the key problems and the benefits of solving the problems. Two ILM workshops were hosted for each of the areas of focus. Participants included the key stakeholders (DCC staff, Council Committee Chairs – Cr Wilson, Cr Benson-Pope, Cr McTavish; NZ Transport Agency and the ORC) and relevant partner organisations (including Otago Chamber of Commerce, Public Health South, Port Otago Ltd, Kiwirail, and Heavy Haulage Association).

[see ILMs for each Strategic Case at Attachment 1]

…

Strategic Case – Executive Summary
Staff from the Dunedin City Council (DCC), the NZ Transport Agency and Otago Regional Council (ORC), as well as the Public Health Service and the Otago Chamber of Commerce participated in two Investment Logic Mapping (ILM) workshops to identify the key access, mobility and safety problems in central Dunedin, and determine the benefits of investing in solutions that address these problems.

This report sets out the strategic case for improving access, mobility and safety in central Dunedin. Part A provides the strategic context and fit of the proposed investment and the evidence to support the justification for investment. Part B describes how the three contributing organisations intend to develop the next stage of business planning – the programme business case. This section outlines the further planning needed to achieve the identified benefits.

This application shows that that there are some key synergies between the strategies and objectives of the three key stakeholder organisations, where priorities for future investment align. Evidence supporting each of the key problems identified in the ILM workshops is outlined section 3.4, and reveals a strong case for change and need for investment.

…

3.1 Defining the Problem
Dunedin City Council convened a facilitated investment logic mapping workshop that was held on 10th February 2014, with key stakeholders to gain a better understanding of current issues and business needs. The stakeholder panel identified and agreed to the following key problems:

Problem one: SH1, the railway and north/south arterial routes bisect areas of high pedestrian use resulting in dislocation and poor connectivity of key areas

Problem two: The design, use and management of central city routes results in intermodal conflict

Problem three: Management and provision of car parking is not integrated into the transport network, which favours car use, impacting adversely on the quality of life in the City

Problem four: The design, management and lack of integration of public transport discourages use and leads to low patronage

[see the Investment Logic Map at Appendix A]

…

3.2 The Benefits of Investment
The potential benefits of successfully investing to address these were identified as part of a second facilitated investment logic mapping held on 17th February, 2014. The stakeholder panel identified and agreed the following potential benefits for the proposal: (CONFIRM)

● Benefit one: Reduced severance
● Benefit two: Improved safety
● Benefit three: Central City is a ‘nice place to be’
● Benefit four: Greater resilience

[see Benefit Map at Appendix B]

…

Figure 1: High risk areas identified through risk mapping

A risk assessment process known as KiwiRAP maps the collective crash risk of roads based on the physical and operating characteristics of intersections and corridors, as well as crash history. The map shows that Dunedin’s high risk areas (shown in black and red) are predominantly located within the central city, as demonstrated in Figure 1.

…

4 Strategic Context
This section demonstrates how the investment proposal has clear linkages to existing strategies of each of the stakeholders. There are some key synergies between the three organisations, where priorities for future investment align. A summary of the strategies that support this investment proposal from each of the stakeholders is detailed below. The goals and/or objectives selected are those with direct relevance to this investment proposal.

…

6.4 Scope
The evidence to support the three problem statements developed during the Investment Logic Mapping workshops generally provides a strong case for change. It is also evident that many of the problems have existed for some time as many of the issues raised were recognised in the MWH 2003 Strategic Corridor Study and the 2006 Transport Strategy.

…

7.1 Risk/Issues and Opportunities
Key risks for this business case are likely to include:
● Alignment with Regional Land Transport Plan and Council’s Long Term Plan Timeframes
● Ability for Council to raise funding co-contribution
● Support for the projects from Councillors
● Support for the projects from the community
● Further deaths and serious injuries from crashes should the project not proceed
Appropriate risk management strategies for these key risks will be identified at the Programme Business Case stage. As the busine ss case evolves and projects are defined it is likely that other risks are likely to be identified and these will be added to the risk register.

Read full report here.

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█ Dunedin City Integrated Transport Strategy 2013
Developing, maintaining and operating any transport system requires investment, and investment requires decision-making about what to invest in, how much to invest and when that investment should be made. Such decisions need to be informed by an understanding of the key issues and opportunities to be addressed, a clear vision of what is to be achieved, and a clear set of priorities that will move toward that vision. In times of financial constraint when funding is tight the need to clearly identify the right priorities becomes even more important. The DCC have adopted a Financial Strategy which aims to help steer a course between the competing tensions of affordability, keeping up and investing for the future. This Financial Strategy states the limits to rates and borrowing that the Council has set, and any investment in transportation infrastructure must be managed with regard to the Financial Strategy.

Dunedin City Integrated Transport Strategy 2013 [links]
Pre-election Report 2.8.13 [links]
Financial Strategy

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC promotes Riccarton Rd as sole heavy traffic bypass

█ City council and spooks menace Riccarton Rd property owners
█ Conflicted Mosgiel-Taieri community board pushes agendas
█ What’s really going on ????

Former Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board member Brian Miller, a resident of Riccarton Rd, is one of four landowners along the stretch who have declined to sell part of their land to the council for the project.

### ODT Online Wed, 23 Apr 2014
Get road fixed – board
By Debbie Porteous
The Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board has again urged the Dunedin City Council to get on with improving Riccarton Rd, saying it is even more of a priority now the council has agreed to allow 50-tonne trucks on local roads. The board made the plea in its submission to the Dunedin City Council on its 2014-15 draft annual plan. […] The council plans to widen and strengthen Riccarton Rd to improve its safety, and is working through land purchases to that end.
Read more

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50MAX vehicle carrier with HPMV H-sticker (NZTA)

NZTA | 50MAX
Updated: 15 April 2014
50MAX is a new generation of truck that allows for safe and more efficient transport of freight goods.
50MAX vehicle combinations have one more axle than conventional 44 tonne vehicles combinations, meaning the overall truck load is spread further and there is no additional wear on roads per tonne of freight.
50MAX gives operators an option to carry increased payloads on parts of the network that, while economically important to New Zealand, carry lower volumes of freight. The increased payloads of 50MAX can lead to economic benefits for producers, customers and our communities.

The New Zealand Transport Agency is now accepting 50MAX permit applications for State Highways in the North Island and South Island, as well as a steadily increasing number of roads delegated by local authorities.
50MAX permits for other local roads will be rolled out as they become available (in the meantime, 50MAX operators can apply for higher mass HPMV route permits from local authorities).
Read more + 50MAX vehicle designs

On the road
● Trucks will be permitted to carry loads of up to 53 tonnes on specified routes.
● Some types of trucks, including logging rigs and vehicle carriers, will be allowed to extend to 22m “as of right” instead of by permits.
● Some buses will be allowed to be 13.5m long – up from 12.6m now.
● Farm machinery will be allowed on roads at all hours, as long as it occupies no more than one lane.

50MAX 23m logging combination [NZTA] (click to enlarge)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Cycle lobby games and media tilts

Commuters [cycling.com]

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### ODT Online Sat, 19 Oct 2013
Leuchs accuses Vandervis
By Chris Morris
Dunedin city councillor Lee Vandervis has been accused of misrepresenting former Olympian Kashi Leuchs’ views on cycleways to ”push forward his own agenda” at a recent Dunedin City Council meeting.
However, Cr Vandervis hit back yesterday, denying the claim and saying any suggestion he did so deliberately was ”slanderous”.
Read more

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Correspondence received.

—– Original Message —–
From: Lee Vandervis
To: Elizabeth Kerr
Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2013 1:51 PM
Subject: FW: reaction? Feel free to quote.

ODT reporter Chris Morris has muddied rather than clarified the issues around my supposed misrepresentation of statements made by serious cyclists, including an employee running the Bike Otago shop.

Even worse, the Bike Otago owner Kashi Leuchs who I have never met or discussed anything with, wades in to today’s ODT and on his blog pretending to be one of the blokes that I spoke with running his shop and pretending he took part in or heard the supposedly misrepresented conversation!
The millions we have already spent on Dunedin ‘painted on’ cycle lanes are now not what they want according to their blog, but they have no idea of how what they do want will work at intersections.
How much more do they want ratepayers to spend to reinvent the cycle lane?

Cheers,
Lee

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 13:31:04 +1300
To: Chris Morris [ODT]
Conversation: reaction?
Subject: Re: reaction?

First time this has been brought to my attention thanks Chris.

The Bike Otago blog confirms just what I said and that I accurately described these serious cyclists reservations about existing cycle lanes;

“So we would just like to put a little context to what Lee tells the council here. Lee states that we said that cycling lanes actually give cyclists a false sense of security… But what Lee has missed out is the words ‘painted on’. For sure, we, like almost all cyclists you ask are against the painted on cycling lanes, similar to what we currently have on our one way system.”

I did not miss out the words “painted on” as these words were never mentioned in the cycle-shop discussion, and ‘painted on’ is mostly what we have.

This still leaves the most dangerous part of any road – the intersections – as needing special provision which is often provided overseas by cyclists/pedestrian stop lights on separated cyclelane/footpaths.

The statement “What Lee states about intersections not being separable is not something that we would consider hard to fix… it would just take a bit of good planning to ensure everyone can enjoy the roads safely together.” fails to suggest just what planning/expense might reduce the latest car-park-lane separated cycleway intersection danger issue, and fails to give any overseas examples.

I have studied and photographed European cycleway solutions this year [at my own expense] in Munich, Barcelona, Heidelberg and Berlin and have spent weeks cycling around the last two cities. The most common cycleway solution in these cities is shared cycleway/footpaths separated from moving cars by parked cars. Next most common is our painted cycle lanes. Even when separated cycle-lanes/footpaths were marked with dividing lines, most serious cyclists [carbon fibre/lycra/commuter] still rode with the car traffic as this was faster and easier at intersections.
This highlights that there are many different cycling styles and preferences, and claims that a new separated car-park-lane cycleway will please most cyclists is misleading.

My question to the new enthusiasts for wiping out 200+ car-parks all the way up the one-way street and having a physically separated bicycle path along the car-parking strip, is why not use the under-used eastern footpath as a separated cycle lane, as recommended recently in the ODT by roading engineer Paul Hambleton, and which has plenty of relatively safe precedent overseas? I have previously asked staff to consider this overseas proven option, and had a Council resolution supporting this.
I believe we need a proven cost-effective compromise that recognises all road users as well as a variety of cyclists styles, from the recreational to the serious. So far my shared-eastern-foot-path solution is the only affordable one I have seen.

Cheers,
Lee

—

On 18/10/13 12:18 PM, “Chris Morris” wrote:

Hi Lee,

Not sure if you’re aware of the post about you on http://www.bikeotago.co.nz/

They’re taking issue with your earlier comments at a council meeting in September, when you claimed Bike Otago cyclists and the bloke that run the shop did not support cycleways.

I’d like your response by 5pm at the latest, but as soon as possible, actually, as I may need to do follow-ups.

Chris.

—— End of Forwarded Message

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 16:37:37 +1300
To: Chris Morris
Conversation: reaction?
Subject: Re: reaction?

Bike Otago’s own quotation “we, like almost all cyclists you ask are against the painted on cycling lanes,” confirms that they are opposed to current cycle lanes, and shows that I did not misquote them Chris.
Nobody specified ‘painted on’ at the time, but the news that theses cyclists are against the already considerable expensive Dunedin cycle lanes should be of wide interest.
If Bike Otago want to fully represent their views at Council on a new specific type of separated cycleway that has not yet been detailed, designed, intersection explained, or built, they are welcome to try and do so.

The record shows;
It was moved (Vandervis/Hudson):
“1 That the Council further consult with the AA on cycle safety proposals.
2 That the eastern footpath of the One Way North be considered as a long-term separated cycle way.”
A request was made to take each recommendation separately. Motion 1 was put and carried.
Motion 2 was put and carried with Cr MacTavish voting against.

that I have pushed for a much more affordable separated cycleway not requiring the loss of 200+ car-parks along the unused eastern footpath as regularly seen overseas. Whether Bike Otago approve of this or not is up to them to say.
I don’t have an own agenda other than to prevent an enormous waste of ratepayers and limited Transit funds on a new type of separated cycleway yet to be designed that does not address the statistically most dangerous intersections.
For you or anyone else to suggest that I deliberately misrepresented unnamed serious cyclists chatting in a cycle-shop is slanderous.

Kind regards,
Lee

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Related Posts and Comments:
24.9.13 Mediocrity and lack of critical awareness at DCC
9.9.13 Residents’ dissatisfaction (2013) with elected council and mayor —increase!
4.9.13 Draft Dunedin City Transport Strategy
30.8.13 Transport Strategy: Is this responsible local government?

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Draft Dunedin City Transport Strategy

Read the draft strategy here. [DCC webpage and links]

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Comment received.

BlueBottle
Submitted on 2013/09/03 at 1:28 pm

Lee Vandervis was very impressive at the transport strategy hearing on Monday. Lee challenged all the ridiculous assumptions that the strategy is based on. He did this using factual well researched arguments. Council staff were forced to back down on many points because there was no factual basis for their conclusions. Lee’s performance was remarkable because there was one of him against 4 Councillors and the Transport Planning/City Development staff who had a whole weekend to find ways to respond to Lee’s challenges. Although Lee helped to make some improvements to the strategy, the thing is still deeply flawed and will be harmful for Dunedin if it is accepted by the whole Council.
The Network Operating Plan (fig. 24) has been kept quiet by the DCC and the ODT. The plan is to make a big chunk of the CBD either car-less or mostly car-less. The methods of hindering motor vehicles haven’t been described but will be achieved with total bans from some streets as well as removing parking and restrictions on turning and entry. Another plan is to fiddle with the timing of traffic lights so as to cause intolerable delays to motorists. Have a look to see which streets are affected. While in their vision they see hoards of cyclists and pedestrians, more likely the CBD will become empty and turned into an economic dead-zone. The Network Operating Plan and the rest of the Transport Strategy are among the biggest threats that Dunedin faces.

Developing a Network Operating Plan [DCC]

Figure 24. Draft Network Operating Plan for the central city

—

Email received.
Tuesday, September 03, 2013 11:05 PM

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 09:06:00 +1200
To: Wendy Collard, Sarah Connolly, Emerson Yeoman, Sue Bidrose, Sandy Graham, Paul Orders
Cc: Kate Wilson, Andrew Noone, Jinty MacTavish, Teresa Stevenson
Conversation: Draft Transport Strategy Hearing additional data requested.
Subject: Re: Draft Transport Strategy Hearing additional data requested.

Ta Wendy,

Questions as follows:

Can I see Data to justify claims of:

1 – significant car ownership increase in the last 15 years/many Dunedin households now do not have access to a car. [A graph would be ideal]
2 – reduced fatalities and serious accidents [increasing safety] when transferring from automobile to pedestrian and cycling modes of transport [Elvik’s opinion on safety in numbers is not data and suggests only possibility with very large numbers of transfer not possible in a hilly city]
3 – increasing fossil fuel prices since 1974 “rising fuel costs” “Rising fuel prices are likely to lead to changes not only in travel behaviour and people’s choice of transport mode” “Assumption 1: The cost of fuel will continue to increase”
4 – increasing fuel efficiency of cars since 1974
5 – “much of car travel in Dunedin [or anywhere else] is non-essential”
6 – “other options are available for most trips”
7 – “deaths/serious injury of vulnerable road users [cyclists pedestrians] around schools” and “Safety problems at the school gate” “The research highlights that the transitory nature of traffic around schools has tended to hide the risks this situation presents to all users, but especially to children.”
8 – “poor provision for other modes and little congestion has led to high crash rates”
9 – “In part due to wide, high-speed urban street environments (such as the one-way system, Andersons Bay Road, Princes Street, and Hillside Road) and poor provision for other modes (such as buses, walking and cycling), road safety has suffered in Dunedin”
10 – “provision for private motor vehicles has also meant amenity, pedestrian connectivity and, in some instances, surrounding land use value has suffered”
11 – “Demand for cheap, convenient, and consistent on and off-street parking availability is no longer a realistic expectation with Dunedin’s modern high level of car use”
12 – “despite the fact that many children would prefer to cycle, scooter or walk to school”
13 – “it appears the cost of transport fuel will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. This is already having an effect on the way people are choosing to travel.”?

If reliable supporting data is not available, then these unsubstantiated claims and resultant aim to spend $47 million on cycling infrastructure should be removed from the Draft.

Kind regards,
Lee

——————————–

On 30/08/13 5:44 PM, “Wendy Collard” wrote:

Hi Lee

The deliberations have now finished. Kate has asked if you could please have the questions that you require to be answered be [sic] to staff by 12 noon on Sunday.

The hearing is going to carry on at 1pm on Monday as Public Forum has now been cancelled.

Regards

Wendy Collard
Governance Support Officer
Dunedin City Council
50 The Octagon, Dunedin; PO Box 5045, Moray Place, Dunedin 9058, New Zealand
Telephone: 03 474 3374, Fax: 03 474 3594

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Related Posts and Comments:
30.8.13 Transport Strategy: Is this responsible local government?
29.8.13 The Don, imagines . . .
4.8.13 World War I memorial project
24.11.11 Dunedin buses: ORC or DCC
8.7.13 Bloody $tupid cycleways and Cull’s electioneering . . .
28.3.13 DCC Draft Annual Plan 2013/14: Portobello Harington Point…
8.3.13 Stupid bid for two-way highway ditched for now #DCC

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

SH88 realignment: decision to Environment Court?

Updated Post 3.9.13 at 1:30pm

### ODT Online Mon, 2 Sep 2013
Decision on SH88 looms
By Debbie Porteous
The Dunedin City Council has until Friday to determine whether it will make a decision on the controversial designation of land for the realignment of State Highway 88 near Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium – or hand the responsibility for the decision to the Environment Court.
To opt for the latter would be a first for the council, which is both the authority requesting the land be designated, and the authority that would require it to be designated. It publicly notified the requirement for the land last month, after a previous non-notified designation was quashed by the court following the council’s admission it had not followed the proper consultation process. The new road has been built, but final measures including traffic lights have been in limbo while the designation issue is resolved.

Mr Hall has already indicated publicly he would ”fight” the proposed designation as notified because it still did not provide safe access to his property.

One of the affected landowners, Doug Hall, who is running for the DCC, took the council to court to argue the original designation was illegal because he was not notified as an affected party, and sought an injunction stopping the traffic lights from being switched on until the resolution of safety issues at that intersection and around access to his property as a result of the realigned road. Affected parties, including Mr Hall, were consulted on the new designation late last year, and again earlier this year after the notification of the requirement was delayed while negotiations with Mr Hall continued.
The council had received 13 submissions by Friday, the end of the submission period. Submitters included the University of Otago, Port Otago Ltd, the NZ Transport Agency, the Otago Regional Council and several heavy transport companies among others, but not Mr Hall, or his representatives.
Read more

ODT Correction 3.9.13 (page 3):

Submissions from companies owned by Doug Hall, one of the parties affected by the realignment of State Highway 88 in Dunedin, were received by the Dunedin City Council within the statutory timeframe and will be included in the process for designating the land for realignment. The submissions from Anzide Properties Ltd, Hall Brothers Transport Ltd, and Dunedin Crane Hire (2005) Ltd were received by deadline on Friday, but were not processed until yesterday.

—

Related Posts and Comments:
3.8.13 SH88 notice of requirement [more maps]
30.4.13 DCC governance = management ?
20.11.12 DCC vs Anzide Properties decision: The road “has no legal basis”
27.5.12 SH88 realignment – information
25.5.12 SH88 realignment costs (injunction)
27.2.12 Bringing DCC, related entities and individuals to account…
23.8.11 Stadium project tangles
4.11.10 SH88 realignment for stadium disrupts traffic
21.7.10 SH88 realignment – update
7.7.10 Goodbye to great store buildings in Parry St
21.4.10 SH88 realignment – update
31.3.10 SH88 realignment
24.2.10 SH88 realignment: Are ratepayers buying the land twice?
20.11.09 Interesting. SH88 realignment.
2.9.09 SH88 realignment past stadium

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Transport Strategy: Is this responsible local government?

DRAFT Dunedin City Transport Strategy (2013)

The Otago Chamber of Commerce (COC) gets brownie points for taking a stick to Dunedin City Council and the politicised ‘sustainability crew’, this week… A crew primed with council staff, (spuriously-appointed) leadership and steering groups, university academics (with their little students in tow, aww) receiving substantial research funds into energy research, and the like; but let’s not forget the undue influence of Greater Dunedin and its two councillors, MacTavish and Wilson (paid $250 a day, was it?), sitting on the strategy panel – who, having spruced up their images lately (cutesy dyed haircuts, necklaces and dresses in adornment – closely resembling the old ‘pearl and cardy set’), will find the clobber just too awkward for bike riding.

It’s recognised the Chamber can’t hope to represent the wide breadth of Dunedinites – but it’s fair to say the Chamber’s focus and agendas (collectively and personally) are experienced as being unbearably narrow at times and slant at others – for example, its handling of the Dunedin harbourside plan change appeal, and its support for the new stadium (knife to the throat of Dunedin’s economy) and the proposed apartment and hotel development at 41 Wharf Street (cheap bling, with strings). All up, the Chamber is a mysterious if not loose male-order assembly of ‘business minds’.

Nevertheless, DCC, give your dog a bone…
But don’t think the Chamber will accept more stupidity from your transportation planners and general managers controlling the whole (desktop) strategic exercise —or from the ‘mission’ of idealistic ‘non-business’ greenies who lack the commonsense, experience, resilience and determination of Dunedin companies (the ones who actually make the dollars happen!), and which greenies will surely fail if pitted hard against Otago’s most successful export earners!!

The Transport Strategy is not a statutory document – but where it attempts to flow into District Plan changes, well, let’s wait for all the costly appeals to Environment Court. The council can hardly afford more legal battles – it can’t fund the challenges it’s already immured by.

The worst fear with the transport strategy revolves around pending changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) which could see council-driven and developer-driven projects bulldozed through without public consultation; with few benefits to anyone or the environment, except to the proponents. The new legislation will mean even less accountability and transparency in local government than ever before – thanks to the National-led government. You know who to vote for in 2014.

Do you know who to vote for in 2013?

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### ODT Online Fri, 30 Aug 2013
Attack on transport strategy
By Chris Morris
The Otago Chamber of Commerce has launched an attack on Dunedin’s draft transport strategy, saying it pushed a ”questionable agenda” of sustainability while ignoring major transport issues. The strongly-worded rebuke came in the chamber’s submission on the Dunedin City Council’s draft strategy, presented on the first day of a two-day public hearing yesterday.
However, Prof Herbert Harris, a member of the chamber’s logistics committee, also offered an olive branch at the hearing by suggesting a joint working party be formed to fix the document’s flaws.

Prof Harris said the strategy was of ”major concern” because it ignored the inadequate arterial route through the city, a lack of commuter parking and the significance of the road link to Port Otago.

The draft strategy sought to identify and address key transport challenges facing the city over the next 30 years, beginning with improving the city’s poor road safety record. Initiatives proposed included everything from a multimillion-dollar central-city upgrade, to improved cycleways, bus services and a new eastern freight bypass. Prof Harris said the strategy was of ”major concern” because it ignored the inadequate arterial route through the city, a lack of commuter parking and the significance of the road link to Port Otago.
Read more

GREY AREAS… If you received this DRAFT Summary by post in late July, look no further than the grey back cover – it’s easier to read than the illegible and contrived contents, having about the same informational content.

****

### ODT Online Fri, 30 Aug 2013
Transport transfer considered
By Chris Morris
The Otago Regional Council says it will consider handing responsibility for public transport to the Dunedin City Council.
Council transportation planning manager Sarah Connolly confirmed a report on the issue was being finalised, and the chief executives of both organisations, Paul Orders and Peter Bodeker, would be briefed within weeks. Councillors from both organisations were yet to see the report, but a decision on how to proceed would be decided after the briefing, she said.
The news came two years after the Otago Daily Times reported the DCC and ORC were in talks about a possible transfer of the public transport network to the city council.
Read more

—

Related Posts and Comments:
29.8.13 The Don, imagines . . .
4.8.13 World War I memorial project
24.11.11 Dunedin buses: ORC or DCC
8.7.13 Bloody $tupid cycleways and Cull’s electioneering . . .
28.3.13 DCC Draft Annual Plan 2013/14: Portobello Harington Point…
8.3.13 Stupid bid for two-way highway ditched for now #DCC

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

SH88 notice of requirement

Affected Party: Anzide Properties Ltd

Doug Hall, who was informed about the designation process on Thursday, said he was going to fight the issue. ”I have no choice. It is a safety issue. Someone is going to get killed on that road.”

### ODT Online Sat, 3 Aug 2013
Hall to oppose designation
By Hamish McNeilly
Dunedin businessman Doug Hall remains defiant after the Dunedin City Council confirmed it was revisiting the designation process for an affected area of State Highway 88. Yesterday, the council announced it had lodged a notice of requirement to restart the designation process, after negotiations stalled following a botched handling of the original process.
DCC general manager infrastructure and networks Tony Avery said the section of road had not been legally designated and the council acknowledged it had made process mistakes when trying to designate it earlier.
Last year, the Otago Daily Times reported the council had spent $485,000 over 18 months to try to find a solution, and it was too early to say how much the designation process would add to the final tally.
Read more

● Submissions on the notice of requirement, which is publicly notified today, close on August 30.

—

Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Designation Process for Part of State Highway 88

This item was published on 02 Aug 2013.

The Dunedin City Council has lodged a Notice of Requirement to start afresh the designation process for the section of State Highway 88 near Anzac Avenue.
The Notice of Requirement is a formal process to have land designated as road. It will be publicly notified tomorrow.
DCC General Manager Infrastructure and Networks Tony Avery says the new section of SH88 has been in use since July 2011, but has not been legally designated. The DCC has previously acknowledged that it made process mistakes during an earlier attempt to designate the road.
Temporary traffic controls have been in place since the new section of road was opened, while the DCC negotiated with an adjacent landowner over access arrangements.
“Those negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful, despite the best intentions of all parties, so we are now proceeding with the formal legal process to have the road designated.”
Once the designation proposed is approved, traffic lights at the intersection of Anzac Avenue and Frederick Street would be activated, and the Ward Street bridge ramp would be re-opened to provide much-needed access to the Harbourside area, Mr Avery says. Access to the adjacent properties is to be provided as well, consistent with acceptable standards and in a safe manner.
The DCC is confident the changes are in the best interests of the public.
Submissions on the Notice of Requirement will close on 30 August.

Contact General Manager Infrastructure and Networks on 477 4000.
DCC Link

DIS-2013-1 Fredrick St – Ravensbourne Rd Layout Plan

Territorial Authority’s Requirement for Two Designations
DIS-2013-1 Fredrick Street – Ravensbourne Road
The requirement is for:
The Notice of Requirement seeks to designate two areas of land. Designation 1 is for part of the Dunedin Harbourside Arterial and will link Anzac Avenue (D465) with Ravensbourne Road (D845) to the south of Parry Street West. Designation 2 is for the Dunedin Harbourside Arterial – Access Road which will provide access from the Designation 1 area to the site at 80 Anzac Avenue.
Read more + Official Documents/Maps

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 18:04 20/11/2012
Dunedin City Council fined for road botch up
By Wilma McCorkindale – DScene
A High Court decision has slammed Dunedin City Council’s (DCC) handling of a roading realignment in the city, ordering the cash -strapped authority to pay affected parties more than $185,000 in costs. Justice Alan Mackenzie indicated in a written decision the legality of the stretch of State Highways 1 and 88 through the city remained in question because of the council’s botch up.
Read more

Judgment-221310 (PDF, 109 KB)

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Related Post and Comments:
30.4.13 DCC governance = management ?
20.11.12 DCC vs Anzide Properties decision: The road “has no legal basis”
27.5.12 SH88 realignment – information
25.5.12 SH88 realignment costs (injunction)
27.2.12 Bringing DCC, related entities and individuals to account…
23.8.11 Stadium project tangles
4.11.10 SH88 realignment for stadium disrupts traffic
21.7.10 SH88 realignment – update
7.7.10 Goodbye to great store buildings in Parry St
21.4.10 SH88 realignment – update
31.3.10 SH88 realignment
24.2.10 SH88 realignment: Are ratepayers buying the land twice?
20.11.09 Interesting. SH88 realignment.
2.9.09 SH88 realignment past stadium

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin: Developers stoop to resource consents instead of private plan change applications

Local resource management consultant/planners such as Allan Cubitt (also an independent commissioner that the Dunedin City Council calls on from time to time) and Don Anderson (Anderson & Co) are ‘chipping away’ at the Dunedin City District Plan zoning provisions with greater insistence out on the Taieri, in (surprise!) Cr Syd Brown’s patch, the Mosgiel Taieri ward.

We have the Veggie Boys application for retrospective resource consent coming to hearing on 10 April (see earlier post, Fresh veggies, a holiday mystery), hosted by Don Anderson. Meanwhile, DCC has allowed Veggie Boys to trade without resource consent since last year. There is some heat on the Council to clarify the planning issues (after a run of five non-notified consents involving Wallis Nurseries ‘destination’ developments, thus the notified application. DCC has sought a legal opinion but refuses to release it.

Veggie Boys Ltd (LUC-2012-563 Resource Consent Application)

There are only three submitters opposing the application. Wider than this application is the matter of “how much leeway” Wallis Nurseries have received from Council to extend their commercial retail activities – of which Veggie Boys is a part – in the rural zone, on high class soils. In particular, the development of ‘Wal’s Plant and Fun Land’ by fragmentary consenting processes, with the potential for cumulative adverse effects arising.

In its repeating, whole-page Easter advertising in the Otago Daily Times, Wal’s boasts there is now a commercial florist on site, and a “Great New Professional Driving Range for Golfers” has opened (a rather average flat farm paddock with cheap distance marking signs – something you’d normally want to crop, in a rural zone)…

It’s clear the land use is changing in a way that undermines the district plan Rural Zone provisions, and all without a private plan change application.

Will granting consent to Veggie Boys set a precedent that (widely) undermines zoning in the District Plan?

If consent is granted to Veggie Boys, is this the (surreptitious) track a supermarket chain would go down to open up for business outside Mosgiel’s Local Activity Area (LA1)? In a word…

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### ODT Online Tue, 2 Apr 2013
Saddle Hill house sites bid debated
By Debbie Porteous
The Dunedin City Council has been warned that if it grants consent for more residential development on the lower and middle slopes of Saddle Hill, the rest of the hill will soon follow.
But the consulting planner for developers planning two new subdivisions on the hill has told the council’s hearings committee he is not sure people care that much about it.
Read more

Interesting to read Allan Cubitt’s ‘planning’ assault on the Rural Zone, on behalf of developers wanting to subdivide the lower rise of Saddle Hill. To be taken with a pinch of salt, his badass statements include this on the lack of submissions from people living on the Taieri:

”I would suggest that they expect this type of development in this location and are not overly concerned about it, if they ever were … the lower/mid slopes of Saddle Hill do not appear to have a great deal of significance to residents in the area. I suspect the general public realise Dunedin is a hilly place so to restrict elevated building options within the city just because someone may see it, isn’t valid or appropriate.”

There’s a great deal of public sensitivity surrounding the future of Saddle Hill with regards to subdivision and quarrying – it is substantially a district plan zoning and landscape matter.

People leading busy lives – without time, knowledge and resources – should not be buried by DCC’s perpetual paperchase calling for an endless stream of submission-making on resource consents, spatial plan, district plan review, plan changes, whole city and area strategies, or other. On balance, we wouldn’t automatically or superficially conclude similarly to Mr Cubitt.

With Saddle Hill and the Taieri in general, it seems, a plan change process is far preferable to ‘chipping away’ by an ad hoc lingering resource consenting process, to assess the merits of land use (zoning) and to quantify the rural and landscape values for protection(s) against entirely foreseeable, wanton attempts to damage, modify or destroy the existing rural environment (cumulative adverse effects).

City Planning has its work cut out.

Perhaps note the commercial forces lined up in the background to pillage the Taieri Plain, Saddle Hill and Outram areas for Wanaka-like subdivisions (‘dippieville’ strikes again). Probably why you need a Veggie Boys now, to open the gate to was it (open-slather) ‘retail amenity’…

Cr Syd Brown has for years declared his hand in residential subdivision activity, squandering land for housing and own wealth. His developer friends and cousins seem to enjoy (oh so quietly) his ongoing patronage at council – as happens if ‘the movers’ can keep clipping tickets and to hell with high class soils, zoning rules, lack of stormwater drainage from the Mosgiel main street, and lack of appropriate swimming pool amenity, etc.

Cr Brown knows how to back-slap the Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board. We think it’s called control. We suggest Cr Brown has to go in the October elections, especially if through rugby and racing he is a fair-weather friend of Murray Acklin, Queenstown; a gentleman and his files currently under the stare of SFO.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

City planner’s report recommends against consent for hotel

UPDATED 21.11.12

See comments at this thread:

Ro https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/dunedin-hotel-41-wharf-street-luc-2012-212/#comment-29089

Elizabeth https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/dunedin-hotel-41-wharf-street-luc-2012-212/#comment-29090

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“What Heydary found came as a shock, especially to some buyers who readily admit they were so blinded by the flash and cash of Donald Trump that they didn’t do proper due diligence: Buyers weren’t purchasing so much a condo as a share in a high-end hotel that, so far at least, is losing money.”

Trump Tower developer suing 7 disgruntled investors to close deals they now regret

Anonymous provided this edifying read. It ‘trumps’ what happened with the first tower built at Orewa, and the Spencer on Byron at Takapuna (referred to elsewhere at What if?, or google) – as far as 41 Wharf Street, Dunedin is concerned the tower-scam model is the same. So here we are, naive and wide open to the wiles of our own ‘good old boys’ and their unsavoury quest for a share of dirty-quick money from fickle overseas ‘connections’, and your life savings too.

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### ODT Online Wed, 21 Nov 2012
DCC report opposes city hotel
By Chris Morris
Plans for a 28-storey waterfront hotel towering over Dunedin have been dealt a blow by a Dunedin City Council report that criticises the design and recommends resource consent be declined. The report by council planner Lianne Darby, made public yesterday, identified the hotel’s height and dominant appearance as among areas of concern. A host of technical worries also raised doubts, ranging from traffic problems and shading to a lack of information about wind gusts magnified by the tower’s height. Ms Darby’s report left the door ajar by including a list of detailed conditions to impose if consent were granted, despite her recommendation.
Read more

Source: ODT Files

Note to graphic: Under the Resource Management Act (RMA) the commissioners to hear the application cannot consider the economic viability of the proposed hotel project – the matters with a red cross, at right, fall within the scope of the Act. The applicant is required to show the adverse effects of the proposed development are no more than minor.

Read Post Application Information at DCC website

‘New information’ about the hypothetical footbridge cannot be considered at hearing since it was NOT included in the notified application.

### ODT Online Tue, 20 Nov 2012
Hotel developer unveils link bridge proposal
By Chris Morris
The man promoting Dunedin’s proposed 28-storey hotel has unveiled plans for a “world class” pedestrian and cyclist bridge that could provide a missing link to the city’s waterfront. However, the idea is only the “starting point for a discussion”, with key details – including how much the sweeping structure would cost and who would pay for it – yet to be confirmed, Betterways Advisory Ltd director Steve Rodgers said.
Read more

Source: Ignite Architects Ltd (via ODT)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin City Council vs Anzide Properties decision: The road “has no legal basis”

Concerning the State Highway 88 realignment, skirting the new stadium.

Judgment-221310 (PDF, 109 KB)

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DScene breaks the news at Stuff:

Dunedin City Council fined for road botch up
A High Court decision has slammed Dunedin City Council’s (DCC) handling of a roading realignment in the city, ordering the cash-strapped authority to pay affected parties more than $185,000 in costs. Justice Alan Mackenzie indicated in a written decision the legality of the stretch of State Highways 1 and 88 through the city remained in question because of the council’s botch up.

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Related Posts:
9.6.12 City Property to compete more obviously in the market
27.5.12 SH88 realignment – information
25.5.12 SH88 realignment costs (injunction)
27.2.12 Bringing DCC councillors, staff, related entities and individuals to account
23.8.11 Stadium project tangles
24.11.10 SH88 realignment for stadium disrupts traffic
29.10.10 DCC Chief Executive resigns – timing is everything!
21.7.10 SH88 realignment – update
7.7.10 Goodbye to great store buildings in Parry St
21.4.10 SH88 realignment – update
31.3.10 SH88 realignment
24.2.10 SH88 realignment: Are ratepayers buying the land twice?
20.11.09 Interesting. SH88 realignment.
2.9.09 SH88 realignment past stadium
27.8.09 $294.8m investment for Otago region
19.5.09 There’s more, really?
12.2.09 DCC, and the right to ask?

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

John Wilson Ocean Drive, permanent reminder to all of DCC incompetence

There are larger and more prominent reminders ‘lying’ around the city but this stretch of road shows how something so very simple escapes councillor intelligence and pointed resolution.

John Wilson Ocean Drive was closed from August 2006, to allow construction of the Tahuna Wastewater Treatment Plant outfall.

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### ODT Online Mon, 10 Sep 2012
Countdown to John Wilson Drive decision
By Debbie Porteous
Dunedin city councillors will next month decide the final fate of John Wilson Ocean Dr – again. If the decision to reopen the road to traffic at certain times of the day – as decided last year after extensive public debate and consultation – goes ahead, it is hoped road will be resealed by the end of the year and reopened to vehicles in early 2013.
Read more

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Related Posts:
3.1.11 Better consultation…
26.8.10 John Wilson DRIVE
5.8.10 John Wilson Ocean Drive – QUICK submissions due 6 August to DCC

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Old news…

### ODT Online Tue, 15 Dec 2009
Mayor says it with flowers
By Chris Morris
Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin congratulated assembled councillors and staff for their work on the year’s major projects and issues, including the controversial Forsyth Barr Stadium, town hall redevelopment and debate over John Wilson Ocean Dr.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

NZIA members on Christchurch City Plan

Architects contribute ‘Early verdicts on the Christchurch draft Central City Plan’ in the latest issue of New Zealand Institute of Architects Cross Section magazine.

Christchurch’s draft Central City Plan, which the [Christchurch City] Council has been pressed to produce with some despatch, has met with a mixed response from local architects. Let’s start with the positive reactions. “The draft Central City Plan is a very good achievement in a short period of time and encapsulates a broad range of ideas and concepts that have been articulated to date,” says Warren and Mahoney’s Peter Marshall. “As a discussion document it will provide the necessary catalyst for a detailed evaluation needed in order to finalise the re-build framework for Christchurch.”

Various positives are expressed in reaction to Volume 1, followed by ‘criticalities’ and ‘explosions’ lobbed at the constraints of Volume 2.

A common critical theme is that the draft Plan is, in the words of Ian Athfield, “extremely prescriptive”, and that the regulatory regime revealed in Volume 2 would be inimical to the city’s recovery. “There are issues… that are going to need a more careful examination to ensure the urban design attributes do not compromise commercial realities,” says Peter Marshall. Peter’s remarks are a judicious expression of opinions that seem to be widely held by Christchurch architects.

“The more I look into Volume 2 the more concerned I get,” says Jasper van der Lingen (Sheppard & Rout Architects, and chair of the NZIA’s Canterbury branch). “Some examples: Volume 1 says you can get extra height for good urban design and a green building. Volume 2 translates this into mandating that a building owner must employ a green building council professional – bureaucracy and cost – and good urban design translates into a pitched roof between 30 and 60 degrees. Volume 1 talks about safety through passive surveillance. Volume 2 translates this into ridiculous rules about how much glazing you must have. Volume 1 talks about good scale of retail. Volume 2 translates this into a maximum size of retail of 250 square metres – no Ballantynes or Farmers. Volume 2 has some terrible stuff about blank façades that looks a lot worse than the old residential 20 metre rule, and it determines where neighbourhood centres should go without consultation with the local community – in dumb places, in my opinion.”

“There will be capital flight if this goes through unaltered,” Jasper says. “Volume 1 was a pass and appears to be written by designers. Volume 2 is a big fail and appears to be written by planners. It’s a huge worry for the future of Christchurch. The NZIA has a lot of work to do to fight this.”

It’s only a DRAFT. Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin’s one-way system

Council acting transportation planning manager Sarah Connolly wants public input on the project, and for the council to consider what its priorities were in the area.

### ODT Online Thu, 31 Mar 2011
Major road rerouting back on agenda
By David Loughrey
A multimillion-dollar plan to reroute traffic through Dunedin is back on the agenda, and a major change to the city’s one-way system is heading the list of possibilities. The Dunedin City Council has been working with the University of Otago, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and the Otago Regional Council on the issue, and council staff plan to take the results of their work to councillors later this year.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Caversham Highway

### ODT Online Sat, 27 Nov 2010
Funds secured: highway work starts in new year
By Stu Oldham
Roadworkers will soon help Dunedin’s southern gateway lose its bottleneck after officials yesterday confirmed they had the money to widen it. The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has allocated $19.5 million for the first stage of the two-stage Caversham Highway improvements project, a decade after the rest of the valley’s highway was widened to four lanes.
Read more

### ch9.co.nz November 26, 2010 – 8:42pm
Funding approved for first stage of the Caversham Highway
Funding for the first stage of the Caversham Highway has been approved, and work will begin next month. Officials believe there will be no major disruptions to traffic over the holiday period, and they claim that even at its peak, construction won’t cause significant delays.
Video

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### ODT Online Sat, 27 Nov 2010
Lookout Point bridge considered
By Stu Oldham
Private land might be bought to build a bridge across Caversham highway in Dunedin. The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has already bought more than 20 properties between Barnes Dr and Lookout Point ready for the widening and realignment of the four-lane highway.
Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

$294.8m investment for Otago region

The National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) announced this morning, provides an investment of $294.8 million for the Otago region over the 2009-2012 period.

In Dunedin it includes:
• work on four-laning the Caversham Highway at the city’s southern entrance is expected to start during the next three years. This section of State Highway (SH) 1 is prone to traffic congestion during peak-hour travel times
• progress over the next three years on the Fredrick Street to SH88 realignment project to smooth traffic flows, improve safety and ease congestion on this section of SH88 around the new Otago stadium and Otago University
• the SH88 Dunedin to Port Chalmers cycleway will be extended all the way to Port Chalmers.

National Land Transport Programme 2009-2012 (PDF, 4.08 MB)
Otago (PDF, 734 KB)

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NLTP on Public Transport
There has been a substantial increase in funding for public transport services nationally across 2009-12 with an increase of 30% to $630 million compared with the previous three years.
This NLTP allocates $11.6 million to public transport services in Otago. This includes encouraging drivers to use public transport in Dunedin, with the aim of reducing the number of vehicles on key city roads at peak times.
This in turn will:
• reduce traffic congestion
• delay the need for expensive road infrastructure to carry larger traffic volumes
• help improve travel times for private and commercial vehicles as well as buses.

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http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0908/S00340.htm
National Land Transport Programme
Press Release: New Zealand Transport Agency

Wednesday, 26 August 2009, 3:31 pm

The NZ Transport Agency will release details of a multi-billion dollar investment in New Zealand’s land transport network on Thursday morning (27 August).

NZTA will publish the 2009/12 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) at midday on Thursday, outlining planned investment in land transport activities across the country over the next three years. The NLTP invests in a range of projects in all regions.

The new three-year timeframe for the NLTP allows for investments with a longer-term view, and allows local government and the wider land transport sector to plan ahead with increased confidence.

The preparation of the NLTP has been informed by 16 regional transport committees and the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) developing and submitting regional land transport programmes outlining activities to be prioritised for NLTP funding.

NLTP documents, Q&As and regional media releases will be available on the NZTA website from midday Thursday, at www.nzta.govt.nz

NZTA Board Chair Brian Roche will present the 2009/12 NLTP at a launch event at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington at 11am on Thursday. Transport Minister Steven Joyce will also speak at the launch.

[ends]

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Many rural projects cut back…

### ODT Online Fri, 28 Aug 2009
$295m for roading in Otago
By Mark Price
Otago roading projects are to receive $295 million over the next three years, $51 million less in subsidies than Otago land transport authorities were seeking.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr