Tag: Auckland Council

City Centre East-West Connections

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Improving Connections Through the City Centre

 

Yesterday Transport Blog via a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) request posted on plans to improve both the east-west links in the Auckland City Centre as well as (as a result) vitality of the City Centre.

Transport Blog have done their own commentary on this and I’ll leave the commentary at that (see: The City East West Transport Study )

What have done is attach the document as an embed so that you can read the PDF which is at 44MB in size without busting your bandwidth (via downloading) – especially if on a tablet or mobile device.

 

The City Centre East West Link Report – courtesy of Transport Blog

Attribution: http://transportblog.co.nz/2014/08/08/the-city-east-west-transport-study/ 

 

At 274 pages long I have not read it fully yet myself but from what I have seen it is certainly interesting and doable over time. The catch is will we have political will power to do it…

Time will tell as it always does

Feedback Sought on ‘Use of Public Spaces/Places’

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Council seeking feedback on Draft Bylaw

 

From Auckland Council

Draft bylaws aimed at balancing use of public places

 

Auckland Council and Auckland Transport are seeking feedback on draft bylaws aimed at managing trading activities and events in public places.

The new bylaws will replace the 10 different sets of rules inherited from Auckland’s previous councils that related to trading and events in public places, including in parks, beaches and roads.

Activities covered by these bylaws are: markets and stalls, mobile shops, outdoor dining, fundraising (including the soliciting or collection of subscriptions), offering of commercial services, distribution of promotional material or goods, outdoor display of goods, street performers and pavement artists, filming and events.

“These new bylaws will continue to support the vibrancy and enjoyment  that comes with street trading and events in public places, while ensuring that other users of public places are protected,” says chair of the council’s Regulatory and Bylaws Committee, Cr Calum Penrose.

“That includes ensuring footpaths are kept uncluttered so there is plenty of space for pedestrians and those with limited mobility to safely navigate.”

Cr Penrose acknowledges that changing to region-wide bylaws will mean the level of change for traders will vary in different parts of Auckland but that it is important there is fairness and consistency.

In general the draft bylaws propose that:

  • some forms of trading will require approval from the council  before it can occur, including outdoor dining areas, run markets and stalls, operate a mobile shop and fundraise in a public place
  • permission will continue to be required to hold an event or film in public places
  • activities with low impact will not require permission but traders will have to meet conditions to ensure the area is not overcrowded and cluttered
  • identify areas where particular activities cannot occur in order to ensure public safety, prevent nuisance, minimise obstructions or the damage or misuse of public places
  • any trading activity that takes place in a park or reserve obtains all necessary approvals.

 

Submissions on the proposed bylaw close on Thursday 4 September 2014.

For more information, including both proposed bylaws and to make a submission go to shapeauckland.co.nz .

Documents also available at council libraries and customer service centres.

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Summary Document provided by Auckland Council

 

Local Board Plan Submissions Complete

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Have you got yours in yet?

 

Papakura Town Centre from north end Source: http://amerinz.blogspot.co.nz/2009/10/auckland-views-papakura.html
Papakura Town Centre from north end
Source: http://amerinz.blogspot.co.nz/2009/10/auckland-views-papakura.html

 

Tomorrow is the last day you can have your say on the 21 Local Board draft plans. For more information head here: http://www.shapeauckland.co.nz/localboardplans/

I have finished my submissions for both Papakura, Otara-Papatoetoe Local Boards. The Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board Plan submission used just the online submission form while the Papakura submission was more extensive. The reason for the Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board Plan submission being short in comparison to the Papakura one stems from that I am writing a more substantial submission for the Otara-Papatoetoe Area Plan.

 

My Papakura Local Board draft Plan submission

 

Needless to say Papakura does need some serious loving over the next three years. Something while subject to Long Term Plan funding I am confident the Local Board can do

 

Changes to the City Rail Link [updated with video from Auckland Transport]

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LGOMIA request to go in for Post-CRL Operational Plan

 

Bit of activity around the changes to the City Rail Link this morning in order to scale back costs.

From the Office of the Mayor

Mayor announces 20 percent cut in cost of City Rail Link

Auckland Mayor Len Brown has announced a significant reduction in the cost of the City Rail Link (CRL) from $2.86 billion to less than $2.4 billion lowering the price of Auckland’s number one transport infrastructure priority by about 20 per cent.

A significant part of that cost reduction is an Auckland Transport (AT) decision to redevelop the existing Mt Eden Station and connect it to the CRL rather than build a new underground station at Newton.

That design change will save more than $150 million, improve the reliability and journey time of train services, minimise construction disruption and reduce property purchase requirements.

The other significant saving is a decision that additional electric trains will not be required as part of the core CRL project, saving more than $330 million.

Len Brown says the ongoing review of the design and costs for the project shows we can get the CRL operational using the existing fleet. It is expected new units will be required for the CRL’s future developments, as the network expands.

“This is an exciting development and makes a 2016 start date for the construction of the CRL even more realistic, especially at a time when more and more people are choosing to get out of their cars and travel by rail*,” says Mayor Brown.

“Aucklanders are behind this, the business and investment community are behind this, we just need to get on and get it done.”

Mayor Brown said he expects more good news on the cost of the project to come as optimisation, value engineering and advances in tunnelling technology are taken into account.

*The year to June 2014 saw a 13.9% increase in Auckland rail patronage, to 11.4 million trips.

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More coverage can be seen at the following:

Auckland transport project overhauled

AT drops Newton Station for cheaper CRL

And from Todd Niall at Radio NZ this morning

The text version can be seen here: $500m cost cut in Auckland rail plans

 

More on this later today including sending in a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request on the post CRL operating plan

 

UPDATE: Auckland Transport has a video on the Mt Eden Station Changes