Green MP Julie Anne Genter v florist: Why the bad blood over Wellington cycleways?

Cyclists using the newly installed cycleway along Thorndon Quay. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Encounters with local business owners in Wellington have become the latest chapter in a political storm surrounding Green MP Julie Anne Genter. It’s not the first time, and it certainly won’t be the last, that a conversation about cycling has turned heated in the capital. Georgina Campbell looks at why there is bad blood.

ANALYSIS

Allocating space for cyclists who have been squeezed out of the transport network by cars is often portrayed as controversial.

That’s commonly because of issues like car parks being removed from outside businesses or fewer lanes remaining available for commuting motorists. Changing the status quo isn’t easy.

However, one cycleway in the capital has much to answer for when considering Wellington City Council’s social licence to do this.

The Island Bay cycleway has scarred many people since it was built in 2016.

The design decision to use parked vehicles to physically separate cyclists and moving traffic left the South Coast suburb at war and city councillors at each other’s throats.

The consultation process was described as all smoke and mirrors, safety concerns were aired and ghost markings made it difficult to distinguish the old road layout from the new one.

It was so bad that NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) ordered a review that found poor public perception of the Island Bay cycleway was spilling into other projects and eroding the council’s licence to operate.

The Island Bay cycleway. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Former Wellington City councillor Simon Woolf has described the cycleway as the biggest mistake of his council career.

Another former city councillor, Fleur Fitzsimons, has said that while the situation remained unresolved, the council’s social licence to build more cycleways was severely compromised.

The situation got so heated that when Fitzsimons was running in the Southern Ward byelection, a Nazi-themed sign was placed on her fence after a protest about the cycleway.

It read: “Return of the Third Reich”.

A plan to remediate the cycleway was agreed to in 2017 before being argued about for several more years. A new interim fix was agreed to in 2021.

This involved resurfacing and repainting the road with kerb separators between parked cars and the cycleway.

The sign left on Fleur Fitzsimons' fence.

The cycleway is also being put through the town centre, meaning some car parks will be changed from angle to parallel. That work is currently under way.

This is a brief and by no means exhaustive summary of the saga that has ensued over one 1.7km cycleway in Wellington.

Instead of being deterred by the experience, Wellington City Council doubled down.

A radical change to build more cycleways

In 2022, the council signed off on a significant plan to expand 23km of cycleways across the capital to 166km. It’s called the Paneke Pōneke bike network plan.

However, this time, the rollout would be different, to avoid a repeat of the Island Bay saga.

The cycleways were to be delivered by a transitional programme with plastic post separators and changes to road markings using paint, giving them a pop-up feel.

This allowed the network to be established more quickly and so changes to the design could be made in real time before permanent grade-separated cycleways were implemented.

Julie Anne Genter cycled to Auckland Hospital to give birth.

The plan was signed off with a word of caution by the likes of Fitzsimons, who acknowledged community support for the plan but stressed it was tenuous.

“This council must not take that support for granted. I’m not convinced that Wellington City Council recognises how challenging and ambitious this plan is, given the hurdles and obstacles we are facing in the community.”

Paneke Pōneke’s pilot cycleways have hit several roadblocks, which the council has overcome.

Businesses take the council to court

Legal action by supermarket giant Foodstuffs has recently been resolved over a cycleway planned outside New World on Molesworth St.

New World’s main entrance is off the right-hand lane, where the cycleway is planned. Foodstuffs claimed the council’s decision-making process did not consider alternative routes which would avoid conflict between cyclists and vehicles.

The Wellington High Court dismissed Foodstuffs’ judicial review application. Justice David Johnstone said the council undertook an appropriately targeted and responsive programme of consultation, including specifically with Foodstuffs.

Businesses on Wellington’s Thorndon Quay unsuccessfully resorted to legal action in 2021 over the removal of car parks, which they said was “totally tone deaf”.

Angle parks were replaced with parallel parking spaces to make it safer for cyclists along the busy gateway to the city. It meant losing 72 car parks.

In 2022, the High Court granted an interim injunction over a cycleway through Newtown, halting construction until a full judicial review hearing could be heard.

The case was led by a group of Wellington business owners. Myles Gazley, of Gazley Motors, said they supported cycleways but were deeply concerned about the lack of consultation on such a significant project.

“This is an attempt at change by stealth.”

The matter ended up being settled outside of court.

Newtown is where Laura Newcombe’s Four Seasons Florist shop is located.

Four Seasons Florist owner Laura Newcombe. Photo / Katrina Bennett

Newcombe has claimed Genter came into her shop last month and the pair got into a discussion about how “Genter had advocated to get rid of every single car park at the shopping precinct”.

Newcombe said the discussion quickly escalated.

“She started screaming ‘you don’t care about my kids cycling’,” Newcombe alleged.

On the flower shop complaint, Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the party’s leadership had no prior knowledge of the incident.

She said they had spoken to Genter about it and would not be disputing the story. It would be dealt with as part of the disciplinary process the Greens have begun.

Compromises have been made

More than 400 people signed a petition over a cycleway from the Botanic Garden to the city.

Those who presented the petition to city councillors again said they weren’t against cycleways, but were concerned about the removal of about 30 short- and medium-term carparks on part of Tinakori Rd.

“There are several businesses along this route that require deliveries to be made and rely on customers being able to park in the street for a short while. Removing this facility will be devastating for them.”

The council appeared to have listened and made some changes when it signed off the cycleway, including shortening the hours of a bus lane from 24/7 to between 7am and 10am on weekdays to provide more parking.

Plan to remove cars from the Golden Mile

The Government may have cancelled the $7.4 billion Let’s Get Wellington Moving transport plan but parts of it live on.

Wellington City Council won a concession on its Golden Mile redevelopment, despite National saying it would axe it. The project has been brought in-house and the council will work to find cost efficiencies and have closer engagement with local businesses.

The project includes dedicated bus lanes, cycleways and wider footpaths to prioritise walking and cycling.

Wellington's Golden Mile. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Some businesses, including Cranfields, which Nicola Cranfield owns, have vehemently opposed the project, claiming it will do nothing to enliven the city centre and will turn the capital’s main artery into little more than a bus lane.

Cranfield is closing her store, not wanting to go through the stress of roadworks, limited access to the shop when the work is completed, and the removal of car parks.

Cranfield has now claimed Genter grabbed her upper arm, and gave it a little shake during a conversation about the MP’s involvement in the Golden Mile plan.

Genter herself did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment about the incident.

Asked about Cranfield’s claims, the Green Party said in a statement that co-leaders Marama Davidson and Swarbrick had no prior knowledge of the allegations regarding Genter which have recently come to light.

A mandate for cycleways in Wellington

Regardless of the cycleway controversy, during consultation on Paneke Pōneke, 87 per cent of the 1140 responses from groups and individuals either strongly supported or supported it.

Wellington voted in Mayor Tory Whanau, who campaigned in support of cycleways.

At the general election, the Wellington Central and Rongotai electorates turned green.

Wellington Central MP Tamatha Paul was a key figure in the Paneke Pōneke cycleway expansion when she was a city councillor.

Genter, the MP for Rongotai, is a keen cyclist who even biked to the hospital while in labour, before giving birth to her daughter.

Cycling also reduces emissions from road transport, making it an important policy if the council wants to meet ambitious targets.

Road transport emissions represent about a third of Wellington city’s emissions.

In 2019, the council declared a climate emergency. Te Atakura First to Zero was adopted, which is the blueprint to make Wellington City a net zero carbon capital by 2050.

The Wellington Regional Land Transport Plan includes a target to increase public and active transport mode share by 40 per cent by 2030.

The council is also preparing for tens of thousands more people to live in the city in the next 30 years.

Having connected cycleways will be an important option for those people to get around without congesting the city’s roads further.

By these measures, there is a mandate for cycleways in Wellington.

Being on board with an overall vision is one thing, but dealing with the reality of implementing that - car park by car park, street by street- has proven to be a painful process.

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.