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Rodney District leaders claim the Auckland Regional Council is out of touch with their community and what they say is a strong need for a toll road to the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.
But they are buoyed by a submission on the $160 million Penlink proposal from a council subsidiary, the Auckland Regional Transport Authority, which ranks local roading and other transport projects for Government subsidies.
The regional council opposes a bid by Rodney for Government funding agency Land Transport NZ to underwrite a loan for the 7km road across the Weiti River from the Northern Motorway.
It fears that if the road under-performs financially, as have toll schemes including Sydney's new Cross City Tunnel and Tauranga City's Route K, Land Transport would have to fund it at the expense of higher-priority Auckland plans.
That reservation has infuriated Rodney Mayor John Law, who accuses the regional council of ignoring its own growth strategy as well as his district's needs, and notes that Whangaparaoa is in a development zone inside Auckland's metropolitan urban limit.
Whangaparaoa-based district council member Bill Smith says the regional council's stance defies "overwhelming" community support for the toll road, which an independent hearings panel will begin assessing tomorrow.
But Rodney executive officer Ray Ginnever says a submission by the transport authority is not only more supportive of the toll proposal, but also much more relevant since that is the body with the statutory duty to rank projects for Land Transport subsidies.
The authority has commended Rodney for efforts to develop an alternative funding strategy, but wants it to look further for other revenue to complement tolls, particularly from developers.
Rodney District Council wants a roading subsidy of up to 58 per cent from Land Transport, and says there is no lack of private developers interested in providing the rest of the required funds in return for collecting tolls of up to $2.50, plus inflation adjustments, for up to 35 years.
Regional council Rodney representative Christine Rose questions the project's viability given that only two private toll operators showed interest when it was costed at only $75 million years ago.
Transport authority acting chief Elena Trout has told Rodney of concern about its reliance on scarce Land Transport funds for the bulk of the project cost.
"Currently, Penlink does not rank highly in the region's priorities and, as such, every opportunity for alternative funding must be pursued," she said in a letter with the authority's submission.
Despite her caution, Mr Ginnever said she was at least opening the door to the project, and his council was already working on how much money it could raise from development contributions.
