ARC joins calls for V8 race resource consent hearing to be adjourned

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The Auckland Regional Council has joined calls to adjourn the V8 supercar race resource consent hearings until more investigations are done on coping with potential gridlock.

Auckland City Mayor John Banks said this was lunacy, even though the council's partner in the application to hold the event, IMG, is considering the option.

The chief executive of IMG in New Zealand, Dean Calvert, told the Herald that he would discuss the matter with the applicants' lawyers.

An adjournment could take two months to complete the work needed to satisfy the ARC and other opponents and still leave time for the council to sign a contract with race organisers Avesco by the deadline of December 31.

Mr Banks continued to attack the national road agency Transit and North Shore City Council yesterday for opposing the event. He referred to Mr Wood by his full name, George Sydney Wood, and labelled him "pathetic".

Mr Wood said he was disappointed the matter had turned personal.

Mr Wood said the hasty way in which the traffic and environmental issues had been put together had pushed the council into a position of opposition.

He urged the commissioners to take note of Transit's plans to build a new Victoria Park flyover during the proposed seven-year period of the car race, saying the project was vital for North Shore motorists.

Transit has said two overland options for expanding the capacity of the Victoria Park flyover - the third option is a tunnel - would require permanent support columns in Beaumont St, one of the roads required for the race.

Mr Banks has promised to oppose columns in Beaumont St, prompting North Shore councillor Andrew Williams to accuse him of double standards over his position to complete the motorway system.

A senior transport planner giving evidence for North Shore City, Johannes Bezuidenhout, said the present capacity of the Victoria Park flyover meant that it could handle only 1700 vehicles an hour, 500 fewer than the figures provided by the applicants in their traffic modelling.

He said those 500 vehicles would form a 3.5km queue at the back of the existing Friday morning queue on the Northern Motorway. ARC lawyer John Burns said the hearing should be adjourned to determine potential traffic problems and whether they could be overcome.

Ponsonby lawyer Susan Rhodes said the proposal would affect her business in many ways which had not been identified in the application.

The owner of Alert Taxis, Robert van Heiningen, urged the commissioners to approve the event, saying it would increase his 300 taxi driver's income by 40 per cent to 50 per cent.