Auckland mayor Phil Goff is not impressed. Photo / Alex Burton
Auckland mayor Phil Goff is not impressed. Photo / Alex Burton
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff has put the brakes on radical proposals in a new parking strategy to remove cars off the road without any consultation with residents or Local Boards.
In a rare public outburst, Goff told senior AT officers at a planning committee today it will look "bloody arrogant" to tell a member of the public they are losing their parking space and won't have a say about it.
"Democracy is about governing with the consent of the people and I'm a little worried we will piss people off enough that they will simply revolt against this," said Goff.
He was responding to a plan by AT to be given unprecedented powers in a new parking strategy to automatically remove parking when building cycleways and buslanes without having to consult with residents or Local Boards.
The mayor also pointed out the Government is moving legislation under urgency to lift the requirement for parking on multiple housing developments at the same time AT was saying you cannot park on the road.
Auckland Transport's new parking strategy hit a roadblock today in the form of Mayor Phil Goff. Photo / File
That is creating an impossible situation for people, said Goff, saying it is already the case in places like Flat Bush where there is no provision for the number of cars, and poor public transport.
It is going to look like a range of government agencies making life hard for people and will be utterly unsustainable, said Goff.
The strategy is an attempt to cut the city's greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the distance travelled by petrol and diesel cars and shifting towards more climate-friendly forms of transport.
Ponsonby Rd is one arterial road planned for change by Auckland Transport. Photo / Greg Bowker
It is tied to the council's climate plan, Te Tāruke-ā-Tāwhiri, which calls for Auckland to reduce its transport emissions 64 per cent by 2030.
The focus will be on removing cars from arterial roads, but it could spill into other streets.
The first area for the change is level 3, where the central city, Newmarket, Takapuna, Albany, Henderson, New Lynn, Sylvia Park and Manukau have been chosen to come first due to their connections to rapid transit and good public transport.
Potential arterial roads for change are Symonds St, New North Rd, Sandringham Rd, Great North Rd, Ponsonby Rd, Mt Eden Rd, Manukau Rd and Ellerslie Panmure Highway.
Level 2 will apply to metro areas without rapid transit network stations, town centres, commercial centres and suburban areas zoned for terraced houses and apartments with good public transport.
The goal is to roll out the strategy in level 2 and 3 areas by 2030.
Takapuna is one of the first areas for change under the new parking strategy. Photo / Michael Craig
Level 1 is where the lowest level of change will occur, although AT will still have the power to remove parking.
AT is developing a parking discussion document to start the conversation with Aucklanders, which is planned for release this month ahead of full consultation in March/April next year.
Councillors voted 15-4 to proceed with the parking strategy, with one councillor confident it will not go out for consultation in its current form.
"It will be political suicide to exclude people having a say," the councillor said.
