A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
“New roads entity might be needed” is the August 29 editorial headline. Page 2 news informs us a consultant has reported to GDC that they “see the heavy vehicle traffic situation worsening in Gisborne city, on local roads that already carry too heavy a load”.
One wonders how much that
consultancy cost. I have been making that very point for free for just over two years — ever since the logs began arriving in town in dramatically increasing number.
Evidence given on behalf of our port at the recent Resource Management Act hearings (to double the log wharves berthing area) suggests traffic may increase by as much as a third. The decision of the RMA commissioners, released on Wednesday, is to grant the port consent.
The commissioners decided they have no power to make decisions about the impacts of trucks beyond the port boundary. Well, the council does, and it follows that commissioners representing councillors have the same power.
Now it seems our Regional Transport Committee has been found wanting because it is too focused on maintenance activities. Really? Now a new agency is being mooted. A “stand-alone capital works entity”. A fresh group of talking-head consultants. Another ratepayer expense. Why not re-jig the existing agency and committee?
