A $300,000 shared pathway in Marton will be built despite Government calls for councils to focus on core infrastructure.
Rangitīkei District Council signed off the project, along Calico Line between Bredins Line and Nga Tawa Rd, at a meeting last month.
Funding was approved
for the 2023-24 financial year, with $31,525 spent on preliminary costs.
The remaining funding was carried over to 2024-25 pending a final council decision.
A report from council roading transport manager Darryn Black said the Government had advised councils to focus on core infrastructure and the council had requested 2024-25 capital projects be reconsidered.
The council did not apply for NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) funding for the Calico Line project, it said.
Black told councillors it would not have been approved because there was no additional funding for cycle and walkways in NZTA’s latest National Land Transport Programme.
At the end of 2023, Transport Minister Simeon Brown told the agency not to commit any further funding to local authorities – beyond existing contractual obligations – to develop cycling and walking programmes.
Rangitīkei District Deputy Mayor Dave Wilson said one of the disappointing things about being on the council was “how long it takes to get shovels in the ground and things actually moving”.
“Yes, it’s $300,000, but if we go to do it in five years it’ll be $600,000,” he said.
“Let’s buckle up, push on and get some work done.”
Calico Line has a speed limit of 80km/h.
In 2023, Nga Tawa Diocesan School requested a pathway be built between the school and Marton township to help keep students safe.
The project received 118 responses during public consultation on the council’s 2023-24 annual plan.
Forty-four per cent supported completing it in the 2023-24 financial year, with 38% supporting delaying the decision to seek funding from NZTA and 17% requesting something else.
Councillors had three options at last month’s meeting – cancellation of the project, deferral or for it to proceed – the majority voting in favour of it going ahead.
Mayor Andy Watson said he did not think the council had “had a serious go” at securing NZTA funding and the project should be deferred until there was more engagement with the agency.
Wilson said if the Calico Line section of pathway were constructed, the council would be in a much stronger position to talk to NZTA about Nga Tawa Rd, which was a heavy traffic bypass.
“It goes through our district and we pay for it,” he said.
“I would suggest keeping your powder dry and using it for the next round of discussions with NZTA for the Nga Tawa Rd extension to this town loop.”
Black’s report said the Calico Line project, a 2.5m-wide chip-seal path, would form part of a proposed track around the entire town – the Marton Town Loop Active Mobility Pathway.
Wilson said there was growth in Nga Tawa Rd and the council wanted to put a shared cycle pathway along it in the future.
“That will never happen if we don’t do this stage first.”
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.