Te Puke roading to be discussed at public meeting

The single laning of Jellicoe St in Te Puke will be up for discussion at a public meeting on July 1.

Last month, an opinion piece by Western Bay of Plenty District Councillor Kevin Marsh appeared in Te Puke Times.

Included was a pledge to organise a public meeting to allow people to have their say on the changes to the roading layout of Jellicoe St and the impact it has had on the town.

The meeting is in the Settlers Lounge of the town's War Memorial Hall on July 1 starting at 7pm.

Kevin says he has had a lot of reaction to the opinion piece, in which he described the changes to the road - particularly the reduction of the traffic lanes from two to one in each direction - as disastrous disruptions to the town.

''There's people who are for it, and a lot of people are against it,'' he says.

''I'm not saying which way is good or bad, all I want is to give the people the opportunity to express their opinions, because it was always said that if the people are not happy with it, it would put it back to the way it was.''

Elected members and council staff will not be permitted to speak at the meeting which will be chaired by Te Puke Economic Group managing director Mark Boyle.

''At the end of it we are going to have a vote - those people who want keep the town the way it is and the people who want it changed to get the traffic through because, at the moment there are hold ups back to Affco or the Kaituna bridge (at Waitangi).

''No-one in their right mind would wait quarter of an hour or 20 minutes to get into Te Puke when you've got a motorway that means all those people out there can get to Pāpāmoa in 10 minutes.''

Kevin says that while there have been reviews of the parking and road layout, they have not been as comprehensive as people had been led to believe they would be.

''And they have been council run. This [meeting] will be independently run.''