Category: Planning

Looking at all things planning.
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Council to Assist with Cultural Impact Assessments

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Council to increase help for resource consent applicants contacting iwi

 

I have not been paying much attention to the Cultural Impact Assessment debate aspect of the Unitary Plan at the moment but this presser did come across the box a few moments ago.

From Auckland Council:

Council to increase help for resource consent applicants contacting iwi

 

Auckland Council will contact iwi on behalf of applicants whose resource consents may need a Cultural Impact Assessment (CIA), removing one of the key areas of concern for people impacted by new provisions in the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan.This step is one of a number of moves the council is making to help applicants, following discussions over recent months with iwi.

While the requirement for CIAs has been around for many years, the council’s Chief Planning Officer Roger Blakeley says increased protection for Auckland’s cultural heritage and values means more people are now likely to need them. This protection was called for during feedback on the draft Auckland Unitary Plan and the rules came into effect when the plan was notified on 30 September 2013.

 

Dr Blakeley says: “It is important for Auckland to protect its cultural heritage and values – and for the rules to be workable. 

“We’re working closely with iwi to find ways to get the right balance: providing protection, while easing the impact on landowners. Providing a facilitator to contact iwi on applicants’ behalf is just one of the steps we can take to help make the process more straightforward.” 

Dr Blakeley says the outcome of a CIA is not an approval of an application, it is simply advice that needs to be taken into account by the council, who makes the decision on a consent application.

 

The Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan requires applicants to ask iwi whether a CIA is needed if their consent has an environmental impact (such as discharges to air or water) that may have an adverse impact on Mana Whenua values, or if it is in an area that has a site of significance or value to Mana Whenua, based on archaeological records.

Other steps being taken to streamline the process include:

 

  • Working with iwi to refine maps covering areas of interest, so it is clearer which iwi have a specific interest in individual applications
  • Establishing clearer guidelines for when a CIA is required 
  • Working with iwi on ways to streamline the process
  • Iwi are also discussing themselves how they can provide greater certainty for applicants
  • Submissions on the proposed plan closed last week and these will be summarised and published by the end of May.

 

Dr Blakeley says there are widespread views on the Mana Whenua provisions and he expects there to have been many submissions on the issue. These will be heard by the Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel. 

“The next step in the process is to listen to what Aucklanders have to say through the submissions and hearings process.” 

If applicants have any questions they are advised to call the resource consents team on 09 301 0101.

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Might go do some brushing up on these CIA’s with all sorts of Social Media commentary popping up at the moment – some quiet skewered too.

 

A Look at the new EMU’s

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The Middle Carriage

 

For those who do not have Twitter this is what the middle carriage looks like when boarding from a typical station platform

Auckland Transport ‏@AklTransport 11m
New electric trains aren’t far away! The middle carriage has platform-level boarding for wheelchairs, prams & bikes. pic.twitter.com/kG6HHdyjz6

Source: Auckland Transport ‏@AklTransport  11m

New electric trains aren’t far away! The middle carriage has platform-level boarding for wheelchairs, prams & bikes. pic.twitter.com/kG6HHdyjz6

No doubt AT will have more pictures coming soon

 

Council Looking for New Independent Hearing Commissioners

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Calling those who want to help shape Auckland

 

Auckland Council is looking for new Commissioners to take up the reigns from mid-year. Note these are not Commissioners for the Unitary as they have already been appointed.

From Auckland Council

Applications invited for independent hearing commissioners

 

Applications are invited from qualified people to join Auckland Council’s pool of independent hearing commissioners.

A current “Making Good Decisions” accreditation by the Ministry for the Environment is preferred, and will be essential from 12 September 2014, along with skills in general planning or resource management law.

Applications close on 14 March 2014 for positions starting 1 June 2014 for a three year term, reviewable annually. 

The council currently has contracts with about 60 independent commissioners and these contracts are due to expire on 31 May 2014.  Under this review, the council is seeking to appoint about 40-50 independent commissioners.

 

Independent commissioners will sit as panel members, some as chairpersons.

They will sit on hearings for such purposes as resource consents, Section 357 objections, bylaw dispensations, reserve management plans, plan changes, special consultative procedures and notices of requirement.

Expertise in one or more of the following is required:

  • planning
  • resource management law
  • engineering (transport and infrastructure)
  • landscape architecture
  • ecology, biodiversity and environmental management
  • freshwater management
  • the Treaty of Waitangi and kaupapa Maori
  • community
  • coastal management
  • heritage and conservation management
  • urban design
  • air quality
  • rural planning and land management
  • waste management

 

Hearings Committee chair Councillor Linda Cooper said the council had been well served by independent commissioners in the first term. The opportunity now arose to review and refresh the pool as the council moved forward under the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan and Resource Management Act changes.

“We are entering a new planning era providing great prospects for skilled professionals and I’m sure that will be reflected in the quality of the applicants,” she added.

Two selection panels, each comprising senior managers from the council’s Democracy Services and Regional and Local Planning departments and a member of the Independent Maori Statutory Board, or person nominated by the IMSB, will present a list of preferred candidates to the Hearings Committee in May 2014.

 

Applicants should apply via www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/careers including Curriculum Vitae, a copy of their accreditation from the Ministry for the Environment, and, if they wish to be considered for a chairperson role, an example of a recent decision they have written.

Further information is available from Elizabeth McKenzie on 09 307 7557

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So send your applications now and be at the leading edge of helping shape Auckland’s future

 

NZTA Announces Expert Panel on Cycling

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Lets Talk Cycling

 

From NZTA in response a Coroners report in Cycling in NZ:

Expert panel on cycle safety announced

28 Feb 2014 09:22am | NZ Transport Agency: Auckland and Northland

The NZ Transport Agency has selected a group of ten New Zealand-based experts to develop recommendations for making the country’s roads safer for cycling.

The Transport Agency was asked to convene the panel in response to the findings of a coronial review of cycling safety in New Zealand, released in November last year by Coroner Gordon Matenga.

NZ Transport Agency Director of Road Safety Ernst Zollner said the agency had canvassed the views of a wide range of stakeholders with expertise in cycling and road safety as part of the process of establishing the panel.

“There is a huge amount of passion and a great depth of knowledge on cycling and cycle safety in New Zealand. We’re looking to harness that passion and knowledge to encourage cycling as a transport choice by making it safer. This panel is tasked with developing a comprehensive and practical set of recommendations for central and local government to achieve that.”

The panel is expected to meet for the first time next month and will aim to deliver its recommendations by the end of September.

Mr Zollner said the Transport Agency and other members of the National Road Safety Management Group would also continue existing work to improve the safety of cyclists in New Zealand by investing in separated cycle paths, improving the safety of roads and roadsides, making intersections safer, reducing vehicle speeds in urban areas to reduce the risks that motor vehicles can pose to continue existing work to improve the safety of cyclists in New Zealand by investing in separated cycle paths, improving the safety of roads and roadsides, making intersections safer, reducing vehicle speeds in urban areas to reduce the risks that motor vehicles can pose to pedestrians and cyclists and promoting safe cycling through a range of education programmes.

The Transport Agency recently launched a Share the Road education and advertising campaign designed to personalise and humanise people cycling so that motorists see beyond the bike. More information is availablehere.

New Zealand Cycle Safety Panel – Profiles

Richard Leggat (Chair) 
Auckland

Richard is the Chair of Bike NZ and the New Zealand Cycle Trail and is a board member of Education NZ, SnowSports NZ, NZ Post and Tourism NZ.  Richard is an enthusiastic recreational cyclist and is actively involved in his children’s sport. Following an economics degree Richard worked for apparel manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin before switching into the finance sector and working as a share broker initially in Christchurch, followed by four years in London and then Auckland.

Sarah Ulmer
Cambridge

Sarah is the first New Zealander to win an Olympic cycling gold medal, which she won in the individual pursuit at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, setting a world record.  When she left Athens at the end of the Games, Ulmer held the Olympic title, the Olympic and world records, the Commonwealth Games title and the Commonwealth Games record for the 3000m individual pursuit.  In mid-2011, it was announced that she would be the official ‘ambassador’ for the New Zealand Cycle Trail.  In the 2005 New Year Honours, Ulmer was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to cycling. 

Marilyn Northcotte
Kapiti

Marilyn has more than twenty years of involvement in cycle skills training, originally in Canada (CAN‐Bike I and II, Cycling Freedom) and has also trained in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.  Marilyn has developed and delivered cycle skills and road safety programmes for adults and children in a variety of settings and regularly undertakes work for councils, cycle advocacy groups, schools, holiday programmes, Police and community groups, as well as offering one‐to‐one training.  Marilyn heads up the regional cycle skills training programmePedal Ready.

Mike Noon
Wellington

Mike joined the Automobile Association in September 2005 as General Manager Motoring Affairs.  Mike started his career with Mobil Oil NZ where he held the position of Marketing and Communications Manager.  Immediately prior to joining the AA, Mike worked as a consultant specialising in tourism, issue management and communications.  Before that Mike worked with the Office of Tourism and Sport, and as its Director saw through the establishment of the Ministry of Tourism.  Road safety is a particularly important issue for the AA, and it has lobbied strongly on issues like young driver training, cell phones, alcohol and drugs and road engineering.

Dr Hamish Mackie
Auckland

Hamish is a human factors specialist with seventeen years of research and consultancy experience in a range of areas where the interaction between people, their surrounding environments and the things they use are important. Over the past eight years Hamish has focused on self-explaining roads, high risk intersections, school transport and other areas where a ‘human-centred’ perspective is essential.

Simon Kennett
Wellington

Originally a power systems engineering officer, Simon helped to found ‘Kennett Brothers Ltd’ in 1993, a business devoted to cycling books, event management, trail design and construction, and strategy development. In 2004 he co-wrote and published ‘RIDE’ – a history of cycling in New Zealand. In 2007/08 he coordinated the Cycling Advocates’ Network networking project under contract to NZTA. Since 2009 Simon has been the Active Transport and Road Safety Coordinator at Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Dr Alexandra Macmillan
Dunedin

Alex is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Health at the University of Otago’s Department of Preventive and Social Medicine. She also holds an honorary senior research position at the Bartlett – University College London’s global faculty of the built environment. She trained in Medicine and is a Public Health Physician. Alex’s teaching and research focuses on the links between urban environments, sustainability and health. Her PhD included futures modelling of specific policies to successfully increase commuter cycling in Auckland. In London, she extended this work to understand the factors influencing trends in cycling in London and Dutch cities.

Professor Alistair Woodward
Auckland

Alistair is Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Auckland. His first degree was in medicine and he undertook his postgraduate training in public health in the UK. He has a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Adelaide, and 30 years’ experience in road safety and injury research. He has studied the epidemiology of head injury, the effectiveness of helmets for cyclists, the relation between vehicle speed and injury severity, the effects on health and the environment of increasing walking and cycling, and the health impacts of transport policy. He initiated the Taupo bicycle study, which has followed 2,600 cyclists for eight years to learn about factors that promote and inhibit everyday cycling, including injury.

Axel Wilke
Christchurch

Axel holds an ME (Civil) from Canterbury University and has been active as a traffic engineer and transport planner in New Zealand since 1998. He specialises in urban traffic engineering, traffic signals, road safety, intersection design & modelling and industry training. He is a director of ViaStrada Limited, a traffic and transportation consultancy specialising in sustainable transport based in Christchurch. Clients of ViaStrada are mostly road controlling authorities in New Zealand, but some work (mostly research) is undertaken for Australian clients, for example Austroads. Axel instigated professional industry training, and the Fundamentals of Planning and Design for Cycling workshop has been taught since 2003, which is part of the curriculum at Canterbury University. Advanced courses were added later, and he has taught nearly 1,000 attendees in total. 

Dr Glen Koorey
Christchurch

Glen is a Senior Lecturer in Transportation Engineering at the University of Canterbury. He has a particular interest in the areas of road safety and sustainable transport, including speed management and planning & design for cycling. Glen is a Member of the Bicycle Transportation Research Committee of the US Transportation Research Board and over the past 15 years has investigated many aspects of cycling safety in New Zealand. His wide-ranging research and consulting experience also includes sustainable transportation policies, planning & design for walking, crash data analysis, and the design and operation of rural highways.

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Source: http://www.nzta.govt.nz/about/media/releases/3223/news.html

 

The panel reports back in September. I wonder what they will come up with.