Annual Budget consultation closed last month, and I want to thank those of you that took the time to read through the proposed changes and have your say. I take my constituents views as vital to my decision making – your say really does make a difference for me. From here, feedback will be collated and analysed, with final adoption of local board funding agreements and the Annual Budget happening in June.
Having asked if you support the way council plans to spend your money, it’s important to give you some comfort; we are also working hard to find efficiencies and savings.
In my role as chair of the new Value for Money Committee, I oversee a work programme that is focused on finding savings and gaining efficiencies across all areas of council business. Essentially, the programme is council’s response to its statutory obligations which require us to assess the cost-effectiveness of our services through the lens of governance, funding and service delivery.
At my first meeting I stated very clearly to staff it was my intention to identify half a billion dollars of efficiencies from the current plan within this political term. After some ‘discussion’ I managed to get agreement. I will continue to bring you updates on this committee as we progress through the term, letting you know how and where those efficiencies will be realised.
Last month, a decision for the City Centre Masterplan refresh came to council’s Planning Committee. The report outlined the future of the central city and council’s approach to placemaking. While much of the plan has merit, one of its key changes is no east- west connection. As the mayor put it, central Auckland will now be a place to go to, not through. Vehicles wanting to go east-west would need to travel an ‘around’ route via The Strand (which is a state highway designation) to the motorway and back off on the western side. My concerns voiced at the meeting covered three key points:
1. Before we adopted any new plan, we needed to know the practicalities of how this would work, along with the associated traffic modelling. Auckland Transport commented (quite rightly in my opinion) they would need at least a year to figure this out and I believed we should see that work first.
2. No east-west connection. Many of you have contacted me voicing dismay at this change. Concern from me was further enhanced due to the re-routing option that would only work if the NZ Transport Agency (central government) prioritised infrastructure for this – which has yet to happen despite this plan dating back to 2012. Hasn’t the central city enough cones and disruption already? Why don’t we wait until the CRL and other key works are completed before embarking on even more disruption?
3. The cost. Transport infrastructure is expensive, we have many competing demands from all parts of Auckland, and we have already spent considerable millions on the central city. We need to be mindful to spend equitably.
So, while I fully believe in some of the long-term outcomes, I remain nervous about the practical implications of pushing forward with this work right now. Therefore, I chose not to vote for the plans in the refresh but sadly lost that vote.
On a more positive note, I am very excited that funding has finally been approved to complete the final stages of the Glen Innes to Tamaki Drive Shared Path. The shared path is being delivered by NZTA and AT in four separate sections. Sections one and three are already open and the NZTA and AT boards have now approved funding to complete the last two sections.
This investment has been a long time coming and I applaud another regional funding success in our very wonderful corner of Auckland.