Dialogue: State highway pleas gain attention in high places

By BRIAN RUDMAN

The campaign to save the foothills of Mt Roskill from Transit New Zealand's bulldozers is starting to be noticed in high places.

Prime Minister Helen Clark has expressed "her concern" via executive secretary Joan Caulfield and referred the matter to Transit board member and Labour Party president Mike Williams.

Mr Williams tells me his "personal preference is not to further modify the volcanic cones of the isthmus," adding that the present highway route is "a decision of the previous board which I am examining very carefully."

Conservation Minister Sandra Lee's remarks are encouraging. As the minister who, under the Public Works Act, must eventually decide whether to sign over the slice of Mt Roskill Reserve land which Transit wants for State Highway 20, Ms Lee is refusing to comment officially on the present situation lest she be accused of prejudging the issue.

But she says: "You're more than welcome to say that I pointed out to you I'm well recorded on the public record as being opposed to the modification of the volcanic cone slopes of the Auckland area and that predates my time both as a minister and a member of Parliament."

Then the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) has issued a press release entitled "Auckland's volcanoes must be saved." It demands that "Transit must get on with developing a process for implementing options that, if necessary, are more financially expensive but come with less costs to the environment."

Admittedly, the association's support for the slopes of Mt Roskill is not driven purely by ecological concerns, but who am I to knock that?

The business group is also concerned that a prolonged battle over Mt Roskill will further slow the progress of the highway.

"Auckland business agrees we need to save our remaining volcanic cones," says chief executive Alasdair Thompson, "and does not want the issue another excuse for delay on the completion of Auckland's highway network.

"The delays, as submissions are heard and appeals lodged, can take more time and costs than simply getting on with the job immediately."

Putting to one side the fate of Mt Roskill, Mr Thompson's plea for more progress in connecting State Highway 20 with the Northwestern Motorway is timely.

So are his suggested solutions. He comes up with the heretical idea that spending more money might be the answer.

"Business accepts the need for more comprehensive compensation for residents in the highway's path who are required to relocate," he says.

And looking forward to the inevitable delays and battles that will erupt when Transit moves on from Mt Roskill to decide a route through Avondale, Mr Thompson is equally prepared to spend up big to achieve a speedy result. "There, a more costly route, probably underground, would avert a major environmental debate."

To him, "delays are costing far more than discriminating positively in favour of these issues and settling them in advance, with urgency."

Mr Thompson doesn't mention another method of speeding up this highway, and that is for Auckland's politicians to front up about it. For all my adult life our leaders have dithered about this alternative north-south route through the region, while the existing streets have slowly clogged up.

For Helen Clark, it's a curly one. The Avondale section of the highway goes right through her electorate.

One option for her is to keep her head down. But as she plans on being a two- or three-term Prime Minister, that could be difficult.

The other solution is the America's Cup one. Remember how our parliamentarians were galvanised into action by Team New Zealand's victory and passed acts of Parliament and created a special minister, all to help fast-track the redevelopment of the Viaduct Basin.

Why not fast-track State Highway 20? Special legislation is one way to do it. Another is for the Minister of Transport to set up a board of inquiry.

Such devices would not avoid existing consultation and planning considerations. They would just streamline the process, getting the politicians, environmentalists, road-builders, businessmen and local residents together in the same forum.

It worked for the America's Cup, and it has to be a better alternative to what's going on now.