Auckland Archive

  • David Clendon

    Who will determine Auckland’s future? - by David Clendon



    The cabinet papers that Rodney Hide has released relating to Auckland’s Spatial Plan make for interesting reading. It is obvious that this government will attempt to call the tune on Auckland’s development, despite the substantial mandate that Auckland voters gave to their mayor and council just a few months ago. A  discussion document that will in part inform the Spatial [...] read more
    March 21, 2011 4:56 pm - 7 Comments
  • frog

    A balanced approach to transport funding? - by frog



    Graphs of the day.. This graph shows the  growth in traffic on state highways over the last 20 years as reported by the transport agency. The pink line is heavy traffic (trucks) and the blue is all traffic. As you can see it grew pretty steadily up to about 2005. It then plateaued, dropped a bit in 2008 [...] read more
    March 19, 2011 11:07 am - 11 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Wider motorway or marine reserve? - by Gareth Hughes



    Last weekend I visited the Motu Manawa Marine Reserve as part of Sea Week. I was there to help Forest and Bird and Friends of the Whau with a boat based clean up of the marine reserve. As you can see from the photo below we collected a lot of rubbish – especially given that [...] read more
    March 9, 2011 9:52 am - 8 Comments
  • David Clendon

    Māori statutory board needs funding to work - by David Clendon



    There have been some predictable howls of outrage about the operational funding approved for the Māori Statutory Board set up under the ‘Super City’ legislation rammed through Parliament by Rodney Hide last year. Apparently the Auckland Transition Agency estimated a budget of $400,000 for the Board’s operation, which has in fact been set at a [...] read more
    February 9, 2011 1:02 pm - 5 Comments
  • frog

    Auckland Bridge walk and cycleway – $10 a pop! - by frog



    The latest proposal for a walk/cycle way across Auckland Harbour Bridge would involve charging tourists $10 a pop. Seems a little crazy to me… read more
    February 9, 2011 11:11 am - 17 Comments
  • frog

    Cool animated video of Auckland transport - by frog



    There’s a cool video doing the rounds on the blogosphere right now which shows the Auckland public transport network working over a 24 hour period. An animated map of Auckland’s public transport network from Chris McDowall on Vimeo. Watching it really highlights to me how radial the public transport network is. There are a lot of [...] read more
    January 25, 2011 1:53 pm - 20 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    The fair Wairoa needs some cleaning up - by Russel Norman



    On a rainy Sunday I embarked on stage 3 of my Rivers Tour, on the Wairoa River in Clevedon (just east of Auckland). The Wairoa is threatened by agricultural runoff and poorly maintained septic tanks. Around three quarters of tests on the Wairoa show faecal contamination above safe levels for swimming or contact recreation. Disturbingly, [...] read more
    January 25, 2011 12:03 am - 3 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Before the holiday season ends send a submission on the Holiday Highway - by Gareth Hughes



    It’s almost Christmas time and I’m sure most of you are ready for a holiday. But before you go, if you live in Auckland, Rodney, Whangarei, or anywhere else and want smart transport decisions please take a few minutes to make a submission on the New Zealand Transport Agency’s latest proposal for the Holiday Highway – [...] read more
    December 22, 2010 1:45 pm - 2 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    New Auckland motorway causes congestion - by Gareth Hughes



    The Herald has carried another story today about how building a motorway has made congestion worse in Auckland, not better. Suprised? The New Zealand Transport Agency has admitted that they seriously under-estimated how much traffic their upgrades of State Highway 16 (SH16) to form the Western Ring Route would create. Motorists are now experiencing delays of up [...] read more
    December 21, 2010 1:10 pm - 47 Comments
  • David Clendon

    Sprawling housing not really cheaper - by David Clendon



    As promised, some further thoughts  about the way Auckland should or could grow. One of Auckland’s biggest problems is housing affordability and any plan to grow the city must address this.  While housing affordability is a serious issue for all NZers, it’s particularly bad in Auckland. Recently I asked the Parliamentary library to do some research which [...] read more
    December 15, 2010 12:08 pm - 20 Comments
  • Kevin Hague

    Rally brings hope for safer cycling - by Kevin Hague



    Yesterday, along with my colleagues Keith Locke and David Clendon (and Jacinda Ardern from Labour), I had the pleasure of attending the Bikes for Life rally in Auckland which you may have seen on the news last night. The rally was called in response to the recent spate of deaths we have seen on our roads. The husband [...] read more
    December 6, 2010 11:22 am - 8 Comments
  • David Clendon

    No time to take in the view on Waterview - by David Clendon



    Things are not looking good for the Environmental Protection Authority. We supported the bill that will properly create the agency but with considerable reservations, and already it is clear that community groups wanting to participate in EPA processes are being hamstrung by the impossibly short time frames allowed to submitters. Here’s a bit of a [...] read more
    December 3, 2010 1:46 pm - 1 Comment
  • David Clendon

    How will/should Auckland grow? - by David Clendon



    The question of how Auckland should grow is one that you can expect to hear an increasing amount about over the next year as the Auckland Council develops their spatial plan. The government has already made their position pretty clear – both through the release of their new document “Building Competitive Cities” and through Steven Joyce’s [...] read more
    December 1, 2010 8:30 am - 46 Comments
  • David Clendon

    Who’s slowing Auckland down? - by David Clendon



    The skirmish that has broken out between Mike Lee and Steven Joyce could well herald the opening of an all out war. Len Brown came into office on a platform (among other things) of advocating strongly for public transport investment, with a key project being the CDB rail loop to open up the ‘dead end’ that is Britomart, which will reduce the congestion in the inner city area that imposes significant cost on businesses as well as compromising the ability... read more
    November 10, 2010 3:23 pm - 33 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Joyce’s road and rail double standard - by Gareth Hughes



    The Herald reported today that the business case for the Auckland CBD rail loop will not be released until December. This suggests that the government may be planning not to fund the loop and so they’re holding the news back until the silly season. Dropping a big piece of bad news just before Christmas is [...] read more
    November 9, 2010 3:36 pm - 2 Comments
  • Sue Kedgley

    Wellington local body cliff-hanger - by Sue Kedgley



    I could hardly believe it, when the Returning Officer read out the figures—Celia Wade Brown was only 40 votes behind incumbent Mayor Kerry Prendergast! Kerry looked mortified, Celia looked stunned, and the crowd that had gathered in the Wellington Council foyer looked amazed—because there had been no hint, in the media, that the election was [...] read more
    October 11, 2010 4:31 pm - 21 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Defeat for Nats in Auckland - by Russel Norman



    Still waiting for all the results to come in around the country, but the Auckland result is certainly a defeat for the Nats. Not only did Brown thrash Banks, but there is a soft progressive majority on the new Auckland Council. There are also a number of progressives on the Local Boards around Auckland. Some [...] read more
    October 9, 2010 4:48 pm - 24 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    New Lynn opens with new hope for Auckland - by Gareth Hughes



    I attended the opening of the New Lynn transport hub last Friday. I always enjoy attending the openings of great transport projects but this one was particularly fun. It wasn’t just a lot of boring speeches but included a troupe of dancing dragons, a Maori kapa haka group performed and Govenor General Anand Satyand, made [...] read more
    September 27, 2010 9:13 am - 6 Comments
  • David Clendon

    Dominion Road and the North-Western Busway - by David Clendon



    Those of you who have read some of my recent blog posts about Dominion Road should be pleased to hear that we saved the busway! After a fiery meeting  Auckland City Council agreed it would be foolish to allow cars with 2 passengers into the busway. This is great news as this is one of the [...] read more
    September 14, 2010 12:04 pm - 4 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Tuakau sits-in to get rail in - by Gareth Hughes



    As the Herald reports, this weekend three communities in the Waikato – Huntly, Tuakau and Te Awamutu, staged sit-ins at their local train station. They were there to show their support for a passenger rail service between Auckland and Hamilton. You can see some footage of the sit-ins here. The sit-ins had huge support with over [...] read more
    September 13, 2010 2:51 pm - 23 Comments
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