MINUTES OF A meeting of the Regional Transport Committee
Date: Wednesday 20 April 2011
Time: 10.15am
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Venue: |
Council Chamber Hawke's Bay Regional Council 159 Dalton Street NAPIER |
Present: Councillor A J Dick – Chairman – Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
Councillor L Remmerswaal – Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
Councillor K Furlong – Napier City Council
Councillor T Kingston – Central Hawke’s Bay District Council
Mayor L Probert – Wairoa District Council
Councillor T Kerr – Hastings District Council
M Kinvig – New Zealand Transport Agency
M Mohi – Cultural Interests
D Murray – Access and Mobility
C Wallace – Public Safety
T Ashworth – Hawke’s Bay District Health Board - Public Health
J Emmerson – Advisory – Road
A Bramley - Environmental Sustainability
C Bain – PONL – Economic Development, Advisory - Coastal
In Attendance: Mrs C Gilbertson – Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
Ms E Bate – Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
Mr J Cox – Wairoa District Council
Mr S McKinley – Central Hawke’s Bay District Council
Mr J Schwass – Napier City Council
M Drury – Committee Secretary
1. WELCOME/APOLOGIES/NOTICES
Chairman Dick welcomed everyone present to the meeting.
Apologies were received from Messrs K Santer, J Pannu, M Clews, Dr N Jones and Ms J Chetwynd.
Kerr/Kingston
CARRIED
2. CONFLICT OF INTEREST DECLARATIONS
There were no conflict of interests declared.
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Short Term Replacements for the Regional Transport Committee |
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1. That Mrs T Ashworth be appointed as a member of the Regional Transport Committee of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council for the meeting on Wednesday, 20 April 2011 as a short term replacement for Dr N Jones. Probert/Bramley CARRIED |
4. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES OF the Regional Transport Committee held on 18 February 2011
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Minutes of the Regional Transport Committee held on Friday, 18 February 2011, a copy having been circulated prior to the meeting, were taken as read and confirmed. Kingston/Kerr CARRIED |
5. Matters Arising from Minutes of the Regional Transport Committee held on Friday 18 February 2011
There were no matters arising.
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Chairman Dick advised that Mrs Carol Gilbertson was now undertaking the role of transport manager, previously held by Ms Codlin. Ms Codlin was still working for the Council and would now concentrate on her role as Group Manager Strategic Development. Therefore Mrs Gilbertson would be attending the RTC meetings and TAG meetings; taking responsibility for co-ordinating the Regional Land Transport Programme and ensuring the Regional Land Transport Strategy was completed, as well as overseeing any Regional Transport issues. |
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CONSIDERATION OF GENERAL BUSINESS ITEMS |
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- Official Invitations |
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Action Items from Previous Regional Transport Committee Meetings |
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State Highway 38 Chairman Dick advised he had received an email and photos from Mrs Audrey Jones regarding an ongoing dust problem at her property on SH38. The Chairman then circulated the photos from Mrs Jones around the Committee. Mr Kinvig advised that the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) were aware of this issue and had sealed about 150m of road around the Jones’ property. Mr Kinvig noted that the dust problem was being created as a result of several issues in the area and to date approximately $70,000 had been spent in attempting to alleviate the problem. Replying to Mr Kinvig’s comments, Mayor Probert stressed the importance of improvements to this road and said these should be done as one project not in the adhoc manner that NZTA were currently dealing with SH38 roading issues. State Highway Classification Mr Kinvig advised that the NZTA would be considering submissions received in May. He said 60 submissions had been received on the draft document. Mr Bain expressed his concern that there had been insufficient information given in regard to points made in the submission in regard to SH5. Environment Canterbury Mrs Gilbertson tabled a letter to the RTC from Environment Canterbury Regional Council (ECRC) requesting that steps toward increasing funding for active modes of transport be achieved through a collaborative approach by the Transport and Health Ministers. The Committee discussed the letter and summary paper sent to the Minister of Transport from Environment Canterbury and requested Mrs Gilbertson and Mrs Ashworth prepare a letter of endorsement from this RTC, once drafted this will be emailed to all Committee members. Mrs Ashworth noted there was information on the Ministry of Health website on the Health Impact Assessment and a link to this information will also be sent to the Committee. |
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1. That the Regional Transport Committee receives the report “Action Items from Previous Regional Transport Committee Meetings”. Kerr/Remmerswaal CARRIED |
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Draft Regional Land Transport Strategy Discussion Document Consultation Summary |
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Ms Bate presented this item and advised that the draft Regional Land Transport Strategy discussion document had been distributed to approximately 54,000 households as part the Regional Council’s publication “The Big Picture” and 21 responses were received. The Committee discussed the regional transportation vision, the regional issues, a summary of comments received from submitters and the TAG’s responses to those comments. Responding to a question, Mrs Gilbertson advised that all submitters had received an acknowledgement letter but detailed responses to their submissions had not been sent. The Committee discussed the TAG responses to the submissions and noted the following: agreed that recognition of the current state of infrastructure in the region was essential and that the vision for the future had to be realistic; noted, as an example, that if trucks were removed from Marine Parade other traffic issues would arise in residential areas and these compounded effects needed to be taken into account; comments relating to long distance rail in and out of Hawke’s Bay was not covered sufficiently in the summary of responses. Mr Bain, PONL, suggested that a comment should be added that stated for rail to be a viable long term option requires large volumes of freight to be committed by major users. He also advised that KiwiRail have made it clear in discussions he has had with them that no decision on the future of the railway line to Gisborne will be made until 2012. Under Regional Issues use a better term than “peak oil” Rewrite the objective under environmental sustainability Include “affordability” under access and mobility During discussion concern was expressed that there were a number of transport studies currently underway and care was required to ensure that the strategy did not become aspirational rather than doable. It was noted that Hastings District Council was planning a workshop on heavy transport to investigate what the best solutions for the Hastings scenario was. This would be presented to their Council and could also be presented to the Regional Transport Committee. |
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That Regional Transport Committee recommends that Council: 1. Agrees that the decisions to made are not significant under the criteria contained in Council’s adopted policy on significance and that Council can exercise its discretion under Sections 79(1)(a) and 82(3) of the local Government Act 2002 and make decisions on this issue without conferring directly with the community and persons likely to be affected by or to have an interest in the decision due to the nature and significance of the issue to be considered and decided. 2. Takes into account the comments made in the initial consultation process and feedback from the meeting and adopts the revised issues, vision and objectives for inclusion into the Draft Regional Land Transport Strategy. Kerr/Furlong CARRIED |
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Public Transport Update |
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Mrs Gilbertson presented this item and advised that since this paper had been written the March patronage figures had been received, and these were the highest since the Go Bus contract had been in operation. The Committee hoped that this trend would continue. Responding to a question about the school travel plan programme, Mrs Welsby outlined what the programme involved and advised that currently Council staff were working with two schools who are participating in the programme. Responding to a question about whether the public referred to Council’s website for bus information, Mrs Gilbertson replied that the goBay page on Council’s website was one of the highest pages visited. Mrs Gilbertson confirmed that the route changes due to the retail development at Nelson Park, in Hastings would not add any time onto services, in fact it would provide an enhanced service around the central business area. |
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1. That the Regional Transport Committee receives the Public Transport Update. Remmerswaal/Murray CARRIED |
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Regional Public Transport Plan - Initial Consultation Summary |
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Mrs Gilbertson advised that there had been 19 responses to the initial consultation discussion document for the Regional Public Transport Plan (RPTP) which had been distributed to 52 identified key stakeholders. Mrs Gilbertson said that this initial targeted consultation was a requirement under the Public Transport Management Act (PTMA). The Committee discussed the comments received from submitters and noted that the next step is to prepare a draft RPTP to go out for public consultation in June 2011. Following a request from Chairman Dick, Councillor Furlong outlined the roading changes which were currently underway on Lee Road in Taradale. The impact of these changes meant the current bus stop on Lee Road would be repositioned further down Lee Road and an additional bus stop be formed at Meeanee Road, which would be used by school children in the area. All schools had been notified of this change of location. The Chairman noted that Go Bus, Council’s provider of bus services was not happy with this change and had expressed this view strongly to Council. Councillor Furlong advised that NCC had plans underway for a covered Bike Park stand which would be located on the corner of Station and Dalton Street near the library. Councillor Furlong also updated the Committee on the InterCity bus stop currently located in Dalton Street. She reiterated the point that NCC was not responsible for the funding of any infrastructure for a commercial inter-city bus operator however Council had erected a sign at the bus stop to inform travellers of the location of toilets and other traveller information. |
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1. That the Regional Transport Committee notes the responses to the Draft Regional Public Transport Plan and receives this report. Kerr/Furlong CARRIED |
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Progress Report on Regional / Joint Projects |
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Mrs Gilbertson updated the Committee on the regional and jointly funded projects contained in the National Land Transport Programme for Hawke’s Bay. She informed the committee that a timeline of Council’s 10 Year Plans and drafting of the Regional Land Transport Programme was being compiled. When timeframes from Napier City Council and Central Hawke’s Bay were received these would be included in this project timeline and an updated copy would be sent out to the RTC committee members. |
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1. That the Regional Transport Committee receives the report titled ‘Progress Report on Regional / Joint Projects’. Kingston/Furlong CARRIED |
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General Business |
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Councillor Kingston said he was disappointed he was unable to attend the official openings of the Matahorua Gorge and the Southern Expressway extension because he had not received the invitation from NZTA in time. Earlier in the meeting Mr Kinvig had apologised to Cr Kingston and all members of the RTC for the late sending of invitations to these events. |
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objective and advisory representative reports |
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The Objective and Advisory Representatives provided the Committee with verbal update reports and the following highlights were noted: Mike Mohi – Cultural · Ongoing concern about the permitted speed outside the PakiPaki School. A further meeting is planned in the near future. David Murray – Access and Mobility · Attended a Mobility Conference in Queenstown in March where several interesting topics were discussed, of note was a presentation from GeoSmart on the ability of cars being able to drive themselves with GPS assistance. Chris Wallace - Public Safety · Noted there had been a remarkable drop in the road toll up to 20 April 2011 along with a substantial decrease in serious injury crashes; · There would be a heavy presence of police on the roads over the Easter break. John Emmerson – Road · Acknowledged the co-operation from NZTA for assistance with the permit system for the Heavy Vehicle work undertaken recently. Chris Bain – Economic Development/Coastal · Movement and volume of cargo at the Port of Napier is increasing with the current month showing a 10-12% growth rate; · A recent report from Rabo Bank signifies there could be long term opportunities for the NZ economy following the Japan earthquake. Mrs Gilbertson will forward a weblink to this report to Committee members. |
Closure:
There being no further business the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 12.45pm on Wednesday, 20 April at 2011..
Signed as a true and correct record.
DATE: ................................................ CHAIRMAN: ...............................................