MEDIA STATEMENT                                    SUNDAY 9 AUGUST 2009

Civic Trust Seminar on Basin Reserve Issues

A call for more effective public consultation was the major outcome of a seminar held on Saturday to discuss proposed roading developments around the Basin Reserve.

The seminar was convened by the Wellington Civic Trust and was attended by eighty people, including representatives from the Regional and City Councils, the Land Transport Authority, businesses and local communities likely to be affected by the projects. Dr Morgan Williams, former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, chaired the seminar.
 
Five projects being considered by central and local government will affect the area around the Basin Reserve – a proposal for a State Highway One flyover at the northern end of the Basin, another road tunnel under Mount Victoria, the development of a New Zealand Memorial Park near the National War Memorial, the redevelopment of Adelaide Road, and a new supermarket at Tasman Street.

While the Basin Reserve area was the focus of discussions it was agreed that it was only one bottleneck in a series of traffic problems and that the most significant issue for the capital was to get an effective public transport system, able to meet the public's needs in a future with less private car traffic, due to carbon limitations and peak oil.

The methodology used to evaluate transport and other high capital projects in terms of economic viability was criticised. Current methodology resulted in faulty policy options being considered and promising ones dismissed. The seminar agreed that the Government should be asked to address urgently the need to bring cost/benefit methodology into line with current best international practice.

It was agreed that proposals affecting communities had to involve those communities in the development of options, not just in seeking their reactions to preferred proposals.

In respect of the proposals affecting the Basin Reserve area, the Trust was asked to approach the agencies concerned proposing the establishment of a working group which would be involved with the agencies in developing options and with ensuring that community consultation was honest, full and effective.

ends

© Scoop Media