A Gisborne student and her father have taken to social media, urging the district council to provide their kura with a pedestrian crossing, after they say a more “pragmatic” email approach was rejected.
A raised pedestrian crossing at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Uri a Māui was included in the council’s 2023/2024 annual plan, but never eventuated.
Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting, Raniera (Daniel) Procter, chairman of the school board, said teachers were ”basically risking their lives daily” trying to slow speeding cars during peak times.
Following “increased pressure” from whānau and an unsuccessful attempt at emailing the council, Procter created a social media video with his 15-year-old daughter and student board representative Malea Procter.
Phrases including “Someone will get hurt soon”, “near misses daily”, “they race past” and “they don’t stop” overlay footage of people navigating traffic while crossing to the public carpark across the road, where many school family members and staff parked.
The video, which had around 56,000 views as of Monday afternoon, showed a screenshot of the council’s response.
“At present, there is no dedicated funding available for new pedestrian crossings or other new capital safety features,” the email read.
“Current government funding is focused on maintaining and renewing the existing road network rather than constructing new safety infrastructure.”
The response came despite the pedestrian crossing being planned for in the 2023/24 annual plan, which was adopted by the council on June 28, 2023.
The plan stated it focused on dealing with the impacts of Cyclone Hale, Gabrielle and other severe weather events.
The school was also included in $180,000 of allocated funding for traffic calming measures across four schools in the 2024-34 Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP).
“We were quite clear in our email, this is not about a new project, this was already part of the work programme ... It’s not like we’re asking for something outside of the plan,” Procter said.
Responding to questions from Local Democracy Reporting, the council’s journey infrastructure manager, Dave Hadfield, said there was no funding available for a new crossing at the location.
He said the council completed plans for potential safety improvements outside the kura in 2022.
Recommended improvements were estimated to cost about $243,000 and included parking provisions, a crossing and new footpaths.
Hadfield said when Cyclone Gabrielle struck in February 2023, priorities shifted, and “any planned school improvements became another casualty [of the cyclone]”.
The council had received five requests for a crossing point outside the kura.
Hadfield said the council explained in its responses to the requests that the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport had shifted national priorities. Those priorities were how roading projects are funded.
The current Government Policy Statement 2024 came into effect on July 1, 2024.
Regional roading funding was focused on Cyclone Gabrielle recovery and maintaining and renewing the existing road network, Hadfield said.
He said crossings at other Gisborne schools were installed under previous national and local funding frameworks and, because the criteria have changed, were not directly comparable.
Malea said she felt privileged that people took the time to watch the video and hear about the issue. However, she believed some people had misunderstood the video’s intent.
It was not about how the council spent its money on other projects; it was about the safety of the tamariki and the community, she said.
Malea also felt that email communication was difficult.
“It’s better to talk face to face, and put down the plan and go through it together.”
The council’s response, which also stated it would look at safety infrastructure next year, was not well received by whānau, Procter said.
“We thought, ‘okay, we’ve tried the pragmatic path, and now we’re going to try ... a social media call to action’.”
Principal Jodi Ria-Smith said if the council took the time to meet with them, they would be happy to sit and work through the process, which they understood would take a long time.
Procter said various incidents on the road had occurred over the years. Two years ago, a staff member was hit by a car, and around seven years ago, a child was hit.
After the incident with the child, the kura received some funding to install a raised entry and exit foundation.
The kura would be “more than happy to fund” the crossing arms, the paint, and “whatever else was needed” to resource the crossing.
It would also need consultation with the community.
The kura, which serves 240 tamariki from years 1-15, was close to Lytton High School, Sonrise Christian School and Riverdale School.
This caused daily congestion issues on the road and at the roundabout, Procter said.
To stagger the peak traffic times, the kura moved its end-of-school time to 2.30pm, but the safety issues remained, he said.