Auckland Santa and Anzac Day parades under threat from rising traffic management costs

The Whau Local Board is concerned about the cost of traffic management plans for Anzac Day parades. Photo / Doug Sherring

Popular events such as Santa and Anzac Day parades are under threat in Auckland due to the spiralling costs of traffic management plans.

Anzac Day parades in New Lynn and Avondale could lose funding due the "prohibitive cost" of traffic management plans (TMP), says the Whau Local Board.

The Orakei Local Board is also baulking at the cost, with chairman Scott Milne saying it costs $6500 for a TMP at one of the city's largest Anzac Day parades at St Heliers.

Avondale RSA president Gaye Mantell said losing funding for the Anzac Day parade would be devastating for the club, which this year cancelled the event when Auckland was still in the red light setting at the time of planning.

Santa Parades could be under threat from the cost of traffic management plans. Photo / Sylvia Whinray

If council funding did not come through, she said, the RSA would have to look at the cost itself.

"Anzac Day is an expensive day for any club at the best of times with the cost for food and refreshments. It would be strange to stop this sort of thing for such an important day in our history," Mantell said.

The Whau Local Board will discuss a notice of motion tomorrow recommending Auckland Transport investigate, standardise and reduce the cost for Anzac Day TMPs.

The notice of motion noted other community events, such as Christmas parades and street markets, could be impacted because of the cost of TMPs, and suggested AT investigate whether TMP companies charge Local Boards more than private companies and organisations.

The Whau Local Board has a budget of $16,000 for TMPs, but last year the council's civic events team asked it to increase the budget by $9000 in the current financial year. The board has indicated it will only consider a small increase.

Board member Jessica Rose said if it gets to the point where the TMP is by far the largest expense compared to the other costs of putting on a parade it might become unaffordable.

"What are we paying for? We are paying for someone to put a cone in the street," she said.

Milne said the board set aside $20,000 for the St Heliers Bay Anzac Day parade, of which $6500 is spent on a TMP.

Yes, we need to have a TMP to keep people safe, but has anyone stopped to think what the real cost is of providing the service which is an exact duplicate year-after-year, he said.

An AT spokeswoman said any event on the road requires a traffic management plan to be submitted to AT's planned events team, via Auckland Council, to review and approve.

She said AT does not charge to review or approve a TPM, but sometimes there is a cost associated to obtain an event permit as well as the cost of using a traffic management company to design and do the TMP and possibly notify the public of road closures.

"We have no control over these costs," the spokeswoman said.