Concerns over 'Streets for People' project in Grey St

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

by Tiny Thompson

Last year Gisborne District Council, together with Tairāwhiti Adventure Trust, received funding from Waka Kotahi/NZTA’s Streets for People initiative.

Tiny Thompson

Under this initiative, one of the changes proposed restricts Kahutia Street access through Grey Street.

My submission to GDC early in March expressed concern over the changes and the absence of public consultation. They replied that it had been classified “minor works within the road corridor” and therefore neither public consultation nor resource consent were required.

I am concerned not only about the impact of the changes on local road users, residents and businesses, but the waste of public money.

Gisborne has been allocated $900,000 of which 10 percent ($90,000) is to be funded by the ratepayers of Gisborne.

Is it appropriate to be installing speed humps, chicanes and one-way streets on such an important route?

Good traffic safety engineering practice should produce designs that are readily understood and easy to negotiate. Pedestrian crossings very close to roundabout exits are likely to cause vehicles to back up on the roundabout when stopping for pedestrians, creating a hazardous situation.

What is the basis for restricting turns out of Kahutia Street to left-turn only? This will direct all traffic from the western end of Kahutia Street into Childers Road — already one of our city’s most congested roads, compounding that problem.

Traffic from the eastern end of Kahutia Street will be required to use Lowe, Peel or Bright Street, none of which are ideally suited for increased traffic flow.

I believe left-turn only out of Kahutia Street on to Grey Street to be dumb engineering.

Being “a trial”, would it not be more beneficial to trial fixing some of the potholes around the village, country and coast? Surely common sense prevails.

While they say a resource consent is not required as the work is within the road corridor, any work that can impact businesses and residents is addressed through formal consultation under the Resource Management Act.

The GDC resource consent process — Section 6, Part 2: Public notification applies when we believe the effects of proposed activity will be more than minor. ($900,000 mino?) A notice will be placed on our website, in the Public Notices section of the local newspaper and a sign (billboard) will be placed at the site of the proposed activity. We will also send a letter to all potentially affected parties advising them of the proposed activity.

Businesses and residents in the area should be notified. This has not happened.

I suggested that since this is a “trial”, or so-called temporary change, why not put a row of road cones down the centre line, the length of the proposed concrete planter, then check out the public response.

I believe the proposal presented is flawed and will cause a lot of discontent amongst Kahutia Street and Anzac Street residents and businesses.

I say they should not throw away our money or remove protected pohutukawa trees, (having looked at the plans, there will be nine of them) and they should leave the intersection alone. Kahutia Street through Grey Street should not be blocked at all. GDC — please don’t do it. Listen.