Let the V8s race, officials tell Shore councillors

By BERNARD ORSMAN


Senior officials are urging North Shore City councillors to drop their opposition to the proposed V8 supercar race, ending one of the last remaining hurdles for the controversial event.

Officials believe the council's two main concerns - that the race would cause delays in upgrading the Victoria Park flyover and that the Auckland City Council should pay for additional public transport - have been resolved, and that the race can be managed without significant disruption to North Shore residents.

The council's lawyer, Mike Savage, told the three independent planning commissioners hearing the resource consent application yesterday that further work by Auckland City and the race promoter IMG on traffic modelling indicated greater certainty that city-bound traffic could be managed across the Harbour Bridge.

Opposition to the race by the North Shore council and Transit New Zealand have been major roadblocks to the commissioners granting resource consent for the race, which is planned to take place round Victoria Park in central Auckland annually for seven years from April 2006.

Transit told the commissioners on Monday that it would support the event if "extraordinary" steps were taken by Auckland City to manage the motorway and roading network by getting people out of their cars and into public transport.

If it was not satisfied with the steps taken, it would not allow the Fanshawe St on- and off-ramps to be closed for the three-day event.

IMG general manager Dean Calvert said he believed that with a two-year lead-in people would make adjustments to travel plans, making the task "quite achievable".

North Shore Mayor George Wood said last night that he did not know if the council would drop its opposition to the race at a meeting tomorrow or wait until the commissioners granted resource consent.

"We are monitoring the situation and will be interested to see what conditions are imposed and whether Auckland City will agree to them," Mr Wood said.

Auckland City chief executive Bryan Taylor gave an undertaking to North Shore chief executive John Brockies on October 22 that the "cost of providing and managing public transport during the event, additional to scheduled services which will continue uninterrupted, will be met by Auckland City Council".

Auckland City director of customer services Paul Sonderer and Mr Calvert confirmed that additional public transport services would be met by the joint venture between the two parties, and recovered by IMG through ticket sales, sponsorship, corporate hospitality and other revenues.

The commissioners heard from a number of submitters yesterday who remained opposed to the central city race location, including the St Marys Bay Association, the Westhaven Viaduct Tenants and Ratepayers Association, Moana Pacific Fisheries and Western Bays Community Board chairman-elect Graeme East.

John Hill, of the St Marys Bay Association, said there had been no explanation from the council and IMG about how they would reduce traffic on the harbour bridge by 40 per cent.

He said gridlock would occur from the harbour bridge to Spaghetti Junction if the target was not met.

Mr Hill said there appeared to be no work on reducing traffic during the five-week construction period, which would impact on peak-hour traffic in and out of the central city.

Takapuna resident Maurice Norton said the proposals to reduce traffic volumes were no more than pious hopes and amounted to giving people the choice of staying at home or using public transport.

"I said in my first appearance ... that this site was a crazy place to hold a V8 race. Nothing I heard then or now has changed my mind."