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Rule Forces Carterton Speed Reconsult
Carterton District Council will prepare to consult again on speed changes to satisfy the Government’s new transport rule.
In the meantime, Mayor Ron Mark would be meeting with the transport minister as a last attempt to push through the already-consulted on speed plan.
Prior to the new rule, the council had consulted with the community over four weeks on a raft of speed limit changes, but the new rule meant consultation needed to be six weeks and changes needed to be supported by cost-benefit analyses.
Last month, Mark wrote to the chief executive of the New Zealand Transport Agency Brett Gliddon urging him to allow Carterton’s approved speed plan to be implemented.
“While funding from NZTA is available to undertake a second consultation, the decision of NZTA is an example of excessive or unnecessary government regulations and bureaucracy that will generate time compliance costs for Carterton District Council,” Mark said.
“We respectfully ask for NZTA to reconsider this and for Carterton District Council to be allowed to implement the speed limit changes that were consulted and approved by council on October 25, 2023.”
He said the council’s plan was “finally approved” by NZTA on August 27, 2024 but the new transport rule came into force two months later.
Because Carterton District Council’s road signs were not in force at the time the new rule came into effect, the council could not now implement the approved Speed Management Plan.
NZTA’s deputy director of land transport Mike Hargreaves replied to Mark’s letter and said: “While I acknowledge your concerns, as a regulator we are bound by the provisions of the new rule”.
At the council’s Policy and Projects Committee meeting this week, councillors agreed to enact the speed limit drops around schools, childhood centres, and marae, and to prepare to reconsult on other speed changes and run cost-benefit analyses.
Councillor Robyn Cherry-Campbell said the council needed to “get on and do it”.
“There are so many people in our community that are just asking on a daily and weekly basis when it’s all going to kick off.”
-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Local Democracy Reporting
Content from the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) service is published by Scoop as a registered New Zealand Media Outlet LDR Partner.
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