Whangārei Heads community leader Jan Boyes with a sign of things to come in the new "safer speed area" at Taurikura. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Whangārei Heads community leader Jan Boyes with a sign of things to come in the new "safer speed area" at Taurikura. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Slower road speeds being rolled out by councils across Northland are hitting a speed bump for some following the Government’s changes to speed limit rules.
New Transport Minister Simeon Brown said this week the Government was removing mandatory requirements for road controlling authorities to bring in speed management plans and submit these to the Government by March.
Whangārei District Council’s (WDC) speed changes between Onerahi and Whangārei Heads/Pataua are far enough out of the starting blocks to proceed despite the new direction.
Northland Transportation Alliance (NTA) general manager Calvin Thomas said the $700,000 changes to reduced speeds for roads in Whangārei Heads were still happening because they had been certified by the director of land transport in underpinning the interim speed management plan.
Stage one of these Whangārei Heads speed changes is scheduled to kick in today from Onerahi to Parua Bay, and stage two from Parua Bay to Ocean Beach and Pataua in March.
However, Tūtūkākā Coast and Whangārei City speed management plans which were to be the next cab off the rank from the middle of 2024 are now potentially faltering.
Thomas said public consultation on the new Northland regional speed management plan needed before this can occur is now on hold, pending further information from the Government.
He is calling on the local council to continue with its planned speed review efforts early next year.
“It’s all about our children. It doesn’t matter to them whether National or Labour is in power,” Fayerberg said.
“The work should still be happening regardless,” Fayerberg said.
Meanwhile, in the Far North, reduced speeds on more than 300 Bay of Islands and Kerikeri area local roads look still to be going ahead.
“The interim speed management plan [for these Far North roads] has been approved by [the] council for implementation. It is currently understood that this should not be affected by the Government announcement,” Thomas said.
Work on lowering these roads’ speeds was expected to start before the end of June. Staff were finalising detailed design work and sourcing the materials and contractors to do the job ahead of tendering, Thomas said.
A Far North speed review campaigner, Kapiro Rd’s Niall Mayson, said he did not want to see any retreating on the part of Far North District Council regarding bringing in the much-consulted-on slower speed limits.
He was not in favour of those efforts being nullified through any pausing of the speed review plans as a result of this week’s Government changes.
The community had been fighting for speed reduction along the now semi-urban Kapiro Rd for 30 years. Mayson said many communities were involved. More than 2000 people will be affected by the soon-to-be lowered (from 100km/h to 70km/h) Kapiro Rd speed limits, for example.
Meanwhile, in Kaipara, speed review work for its Pouto Peninsula/West Coast area was already on hold, pending more details on the new Government’s moves.
Thomas said Kaipara District Council’s (KDC) work on its section of Northland’s Regional Speed Management Plan was also on hold until staff reported to the council in the New Year to decide on where to go next.
Northland's newest area with reduced speed limits opens along much of Whangārei Heads Rd and surrounds tomorrow. New signs with lower speed limits will be progressively revealed to motorists over the next few days. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland councils’ work on speed limits around schools has also been affected by the new Government’s changes.
WDC had been planning to do public consultation about reducing speeds around all the district’s schools, but this was now on hold until councillors decide where to implement them next in early 2024.
Transport Minister Brown wants to move away from 24/7 reduced speeds around schools in favour of variable speed limits during pick-up and drop-off times.
Thomas said NTA staff would be assessing the new Government’s changes around schools once the details of those changes were released.
They would then provide reports to councillors to in turn decide on where to implement limits from here on this, with “recommendations of where there may be situations of current 24/7 limits in place that may be more appropriately managed by variable speed limits for school start/finish times”.
Far North’s Mayson said reviewed lower speeds around Northland schools should be 24/7 and not change at pick-up and drop-off times, as this would be confusing for motorists.
Meanwhile, Whangārei Heads Citizens’ Association chairwoman Jan Boyes said it was good to see the new slower speed rules coming in for her local area.
She said local communities along the slowed-speed routes were generally happy with the various reduced speeds along Whangārei Heads Rd and the surrounding area.
“We now need a strong police presence to make sure people stick to the new speeds,” Boyes said.
The former teacher said the Government might talk of changing from permanent to variable speeds around schools in its new changes. But with speeds Parua Bay School, which is in the middle of the village, being on the brink of dropping from 50km/h to 30km/h, a 24/7 limit would be better.
