KEY POINTS:
Councils in areas with little or no public transport are concerned at a Government proposal to restrict the amount of regional fuel tax able to be spent on roads.
The Land Transport Management Amendment Bill, on which MPs have been hearing submissions in Auckland, stipulates that roads should absorb no more than 5c of new regional fuel taxes of up to 10c a litre of petrol or diesel.
But Kaipara District Mayor Neil Tiller told the parliamentary transport and industrial relations select committee yesterday that his territory had no scheduled public transport services, and the bill's provisions were clearly designed for metropolitan areas.
Similar concerns have been expressed by the Waikato Regional Land Transport Committee and Taranaki District Council, among others.
Mr Tiller's council wants the legislation amended so the second 5c instalment of any new fuel tax can be allocated either to cycleways or walkways, or to capital roading transport projects "of regional significance".
The proposed legislation does not specify that the second instalment be spent on public transport, but says: "In all cases no more than a maximum of 5c per litre of fuel may be used for roading projects."
In Auckland, 6.6c a litre is expected to be allocated to rail electrification, 1.7c to other public transport projects, 0.9c to the Western Motorway bypass and 0.8c to a new toll road Rodney District Council wants to build to Whangaparaoa Peninsula.
