Developer hopes for minister's help on $90m project

A developer proposing a $90 million shopping centre and retirement village north of Auckland hopes Government intervention might push his project through.

In the meantime, he is taking roading agency Transit NZ to the Environment Court.

Neil Barr, of Perrendale Holdings, wants to build the 250-unit Summerset Falls retirement village and the 25,000sq m Stockyard Falls bulk retail centre at Warkworth.

He hopes Transport Minister Pete Hodgson will sort out a conflict with Transit, which has objected to the development because it will cause major traffic snarl-ups at a key intersection.

Barr has approval for the retirement village but he will not build it without the shopping centre.

Based on Transit's objections, Rodney District Council commissioners rejected a plan change which would have allowed the shopping centre to go ahead.

Rodney Mayor John Law said earlier this year that congestion in the area was already intolerable and Transit was simply reinforcing a case for a western bypass.

He described the State Highway 1/Hill St intersection to Matakana and Snells Beach as "the worst in New Zealand", even though it was controlled by lights.

Barr criticised Transit for stopping the project, saying the roading authority's job was to keep the country moving, "not create roadblocks to growth and development".

But Transit said traffic generated by the large bulk retail centre would cause serious problems on the main road.

There was no obvious way to mitigate or remedy those effects, and the only way to stop a major traffic snarl-up was to stop Barr building the centre.

State Highway 1 was the country's most important national highway and allowing the centre to be built would worsen traffic problems at the intersection, Transit said.

No money was available to build bypasses round Warkworth and several other Rodney District towns, including Wellsford and Kumeu, it said.

Barr said Transit's job was to fix the overloaded Hill St/State Highway 1 intersection, rather than to oppose development of the land surrounding the roads.

The project was one of the largest proposed for Warkworth and would generate jobs, he said.