Daran PONTER Wellington Regional Councillor Wellington City Ward

Summer Activities in Your Regional Parks

The Greater Wellington Regional Council has organised a series of summer activities in your regional parks. Everything, from tramping, easy walks, craft fairs, 4WD tours…and even gliding!

The full programme is available at http://www.gw.govt.nz/summerevents/. The Summer Programme ends at the end of February. So get out and get to know your Regional Parks.

New Buses for Wellington

Some of you will have noticed or indeed ridden on the new buses that Go Wellington has started to bring into service. The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 buses meet Euro 5+ emissions standards, are quieter and very comfortable. Importantly these buses are shorter than many of their predecessors and therefore much better suited to Wellington’s hill suburbs.

Wellington Bus Service Review

Cr Paul Eagle and Cr Daran Ponter at Launch of new low-emission buses.

The design of the new Wellington bus system has now been confirmed. A copy of the final decision is available here: http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/council-reports/Report_PDFs/2012_497_1_Report.pdf

The Regional Council is now undertaking more detailed planning of route timetables and will put these out to community association for comment in a few months time.

The Wellington Bus Review has been a huge undertaking. Thanks to everyone who has come to meetings and put in submissions. We have a far better design now than when we set out on the review, thanks to community engagement! Page | 2

Daran PONTER Wellington Regional Councillor Wellington City Ward

Screeching on the Johnsonville Line!

The Regional Council has been working hard to alleviate the screeching coming from the new Matangi trains on tight corners on the Johnsonville Line. Just prior to Christmas the Council announced that a friction modification material has been identified and automatic mechanical dispensers were installed at three points along the Johnsonville line on 20 December 2012.

Over the coming months the effect the friction modification has on the wheel squeal noise and the performance of the train will be monitored in order to ensure that the number of sites for the mechanical dispensers and the flow settings we have selected are optimised to create the best effect.

Wellington Super City

A number of council’s are lining up to put an application for a Wellington Super City to the Local Government Commission.

From the polls that have been conducted to date and the reaction in community newspapers, communities around the region are yet to be convinced about proposals for a Wellington Super City.

The Super City proposal is very much a case of a solution chasing a problem. The thrust of the reports on the Super City proposal have been around the structure of a Council(s) and the process for making it happen. The actual rationale for change is so much more vaguely described. Bigger is better!. Auckland’s got a Super City – we’ve got to have one! We need one voice for the Wellington region!

People are right to ask, are our current Council structures broken? Will we get better services as a consequence of a Super City? How will my rates be affected? How will we be able to influence decision-making at a local-level? How can we be sure that we are not selling our soul to the rest of the Wellington region? How will economic development come to the region just because we have a bigger council?

Yes we need change. We always need to be on the lookout for ways in which council’s can operate more efficiently and effectively. We need closer co-operation between councils – rubbish collection, transport, parks, community facilities, etc. And, indeed, many councils are already co-operating in the delivery of these types of services. Page | 3

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