Council chairwoman too busy for talks on Auckland's eastern highway

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Auckland Regional Council chairwoman Gwen Bull accepts some responsibility for the latest political transport barney to do with consultation over the $3 billion eastern highway.

Mrs Bull confirmed she attended just two of seven political steering group meetings for the highway last year, saying it would have been useful for the ARC to have been at the table all the time.

Mrs Bull, who said her busy schedule meant she could not attend all the meetings, also said an ARC report highly critical of the lack of consultation on the eastern highway had probably not helped relations.

The report was endorsed a few hours after Auckland City Mayor John Banks, who has staked his mayoralty on his ability to turn the eastern corridor into a motorway, used an election-year address last week to rubbish the ARC's "poor leadership, a commitment to process, an anti-business culture and arrogance to the ratepayer".

The report also prompted a stern reply from the eastern corridor communications manager, Darrell Carlin, who said the ARC had had ample opportunity to participate in the planning at a political and officer level.

Mr Carlin said the ARC had only requested observer status on the political steering group, Mrs Bull had attended just two of the seven meetings and ARC officers had made a valuable contribution to the planning process.

In the ARC report, policy analyst Carolyn McAlley said that so far the consultation process had not actively engaged stakeholders, the ARC had not been given enough technical documentation to gain a reasonable understanding of the project and a lack of formal opportunities for ARC politicians could lead to having to use the consent process to either endorse or object to the preferred option.

Mrs Bull said the ARC was seeking formal engagement with the full council at an early stage in the process so that when the Auckland and Manukau city councils - and possibly Transit - come to the ARC for resource consents it would be in an informed position to help.

"We would prefer to be part of a solution," Mrs Bull said.

She was disturbed at Mr Banks' comments on the ARC and her leadership. Co-operation was needed, not bickering.