Local councils will soon find it easier to remove carparks and change the layout of their local streets as the government plans to improve outdated and cumbersome traffic legislation
Transport Minister Michael Wood has promised progress soon on the “cumbersome” transport rules covering roads and how they can be used.
“We’re still working through the final phases of that but I would hope in the next couple of months we’ll be in a position to announce further progress there.”
The Emissions Reduction Plan calls for things to be made easier, including an improved consultation process and the removal of “unnecessary regulatory barriers.”
In just over 10 years the Government wants total kilometres travelled by the light vehicle fleet down by 20 percent, and a major part of that is making it easier to get around cities without a car.
In October last year officials told Wood changes to primary legislation and the development of a new Land Transport Rule was the best option.
Wood couldn’t say whether the upcoming announcements would go that far.
“What we do want to provide is the ability for local government to make good decisions that are a bit easier in terms of giving communities good options to safely walk or cycle around their communities.
“Sometimes that’s very cumbersome… so we’re just working through the best mechanisms now.”
Councils increasingly rely on provisions in the Local Government Act 1974 and the Transport Regulations 1965 to make street changes, with officials telling Wood this approach was less costly and time consuming than creating in-house bylaws – but it was not fit-for-purpose.
“The provisions were written in the 1960s and 1970s, and were created to support closing the road when road maintenance, constructions, short term public events, or natural disasters occur. They were not created to support permanent road space reallocation, as this was not a consideration for lawmakers at the time.”
Officials added using the old legislation muddied the legal waters and often resulted in councils taking a “risk averse” approach to minor street changes . Or they were deterred from making changes at all because they were worried about legal ramifications.
Mackie Research co-director Hamish Mackie has worked in the transport sector for 15 years, in particular on road safety and sustainable transport.
He agreed the system needed refining but cautioned if changes were made, this could not be at the expense of safety.
“Perhaps it's more about having a more streamlined and nuanced way in which we keep people safe, that there's an easier way in which we can assess the risk to see whether it's actually a risk or not.
“As opposed to having a blanket rule that just says, no, you can't do this, because it's inherently risky.”
Mackie said making the consultation process “nimble” was something that should be included.
“There are some huge challenges that we've got in terms of climate change and safety and just trying to create more liveable, competitive cities and better places for people and we do need to find effective and nimble and user-friendly ways for people to participate in that.”
“We need a different approach - an evidence-based approach - rather than this highly emotive, histrionic debate.” - Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Ann Genter
Consultation is key
Consultation requirements were highlighted as a key obstacle by ministry officials who cited “the absence of clearly defined consultation requirements” and the risk of legal action against councils as major barriers.
“The effect of this is that RCAs [Road Controlling Authorities] often consult broadly, and sometimes repeatedly on street changes. This hampers the ability of RCAs to make widespread changes, such as bike networks and bus priority lanes, as resources are spent on consultation for each individual change, with various rounds of consultation from a city/neighbourhood/network level to a street level.
“The consultation process can also give undue weight to some voices that have a vested interest in retaining streets the way they are, at the expense of public good outcomes.”
Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Ann Genter said the “loud minority” often had too much sway when it came to maintaining the status quo and it was time for the conversation to move forward.
“The reality is, the approach we've taken for decades hasn't worked. We still have congestion, we have very high transport costs per household and we have really high emissions.
“And yet that very loud minority who are really angry about the change, tend to be able to stop all progress… and we need a different approach - an evidence-based approach - rather than this highly emotive, histrionic debate.”
She said the Waka Kotahi Innovating Streets programme had been a great way for communities to visualise how their roads could be different.
“It's actually really difficult for people to imagine how streets can be different and so consulting on a proposal usually resulted in people not really being able to submit or being fearful of the change, and that bias towards the status quo tended to triumph.
“So instead of talking about what we might do to the space, we could, in a really low cost way, make changes, see how people use it, see how it works, and then iterate that in over time before investing in expensive, permanent changes.”
Innovating Streets piloted 78 projects across 32 councils and Waka Kotahi funded the bulk of the cost.
While some were not a success, a number of the pilots were likely to remain.
“The challenge is taking people on the journey… So it's not just a 'build it and they will come' kind of infrastructure” - Hutt City Council head of transport Jon Kingsbury
Hutt City Council was one of the first to take advantage of the scheme, piloting a cycleway and changed carparks from the major train station down one of its main roads.
The trialled layout is now permanent, with the council’s head of transport Jon Kingsbury saying allowing people to see it before it became set in stone was fundamental to its success.
“The challenge is taking people on the journey… So it's not just a 'build it and they will come' kind of infrastructure - it’s the working with the community to make sure they get the best use of their assets.”
