Opinion: Potential U-turn on Rotorua's Green Corridor surprising

I would have never guessed this council would consider doing a U-turn on the Green Corridor.

There were people who condemned the project from the start but the way council staff, some councillors and the mayor so passionately defended its construction made me think the cycleway would be part of the inner city for decades to come.

In a Green Corridor fact sheet, published on the council's website in 2015, it stated the corridor was a "key part of the Rotorua 2030 Inner City Revitalisation Strategy, aimed at developing a vibrant city heart that attracts people and activity, with outstanding places to play".

Then, on the corridor's two year anniversary, the mayor was quoted in the Rotorua Daily Post as saying she thought the whole cycleways programme, including the Green Corridor, was a "stunning success".

"For me, and for council it was always a long-term project," she said.

But less than four years after its grand opening, the council's Operations and Monitoring Committee has this week recommended a review of the functionality of the inner city transport network and the removal of the Green Corridor.

The recommendation was supported unanimously, moved by mayor Steve Chadwick and seconded by committee chairman Charles Sturt.

So what of the nearly $450k spent on the project? If the corridor is ripped up, that money was for nothing. Some of that money came from the NZ Transport Agency but a good chunk of it was ratepayer-funded.

If I spent $45k doing up my house, only to change my mind a couple of years later and take it all out, people would tell me I had been shortsighted and could have spent my money more wisely.

Will the Green Corridor be any different if the decision is made to remove it?

As I watch my rates rise, am I also going to watch more council-led projects demolished because the council decides they're no longer relevant.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's important the council reviews things that are not working for the city and acts quickly but to spend $442,000 for less than four years' use is, in my opinion, unacceptable use of city funds.

More research should have been done in the planning stage to ensure the project would stand the test of time and the expenditure was justified.

From where I'm standing, the Green Corridor now looks like a passing fad.