Minutes of a meeting of the Regional Transport Committee
Held in the Council Chamber, Civic House, 110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson
On Monday 15 April 2019, commencing at 1.36p.m.
Present: Councillor M Rutledge (Chairperson), Her Worship the Mayor R Reese, Councillors P Matheson, G Noonan (Deputy Chairperson) and Mr Harland (NZTA representative)
In Attendance: Councillors I Barker, M Lawrey and B McGurk, Group Manager Infrastructure (A Louverdis), and Governance Adviser (E Stephenson)
Apologies : Nil
1. Apologies
There were no apologies.
2. Confirmation of Order of Business
The Chairperson noted a change to the recommendation for Item 10 – Nelson Future Access: Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in that this was now a recommendation to Council, reflecting the correct delegations.
There were no updates to the Interests Register, and no interests with items on the agenda were declared.
There was no public forum.
5.1 3 December 2018
Document number M3969, agenda pages 7 - 14 refer.
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That the Regional Transport Committee 1. Confirms the minutes of the meeting of the Regional Transport Committee, held on 3 December 2018, as a true and correct record. |
6.
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Chairperson’s Report |
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The Chairperson gave an update. Topics included matters discussed at the South Island Regional Transport Committee (RTC) Chairs meeting, the recent workshop with the Ministry of Transport (MoT) and the Targeted Enhanced Funding Assistance Rate (TEFAR). The death of Tasman Wheelers Cycle Club member Ann Rigg, who was killed whilst riding on State Highway 6, was acknowledged. The Chairperson invited NZTA representative, Jim Harland, to update the meeting regarding the TEFAR initiative and Mr Harland answered questions on the matter. Discussion took place on Council’s concerns regarding freight, mode neutrality and the prioritisation of rail as a preference. Mr Harland acknowledged that the current focus of the South Island Chairs group was on increasing freight to rail and that the NZTA was looking at the long term view for the transport network in a broader sense and at critical resilience and that not all freight was suitable for rail. The importance of Port Nelson being involved in discussions for the focus of freight in the South Island was noted. A briefing paper on tourism flows was requested for the next Regional Transport Committee meeting. Further discussion took place regarding the various inadequacies of the recent MoT workshop and it was noted that the MoT should not consider that meeting as proper consultation, nor as the formal views of the RTC or Nelson Council. There was general consensus that the the meeting was not well handled by the MoT including the venue and meeting invitations. The Committee noted that the MoT should engage further with Council on matters relating to the Government Policy Statement on land transport (GPS). Her Worship the Mayor advised that she would share Council’s disappointment with the MoT engagement process with the Chief Executive of the MoT, that she had raised the issue with the Chief Executive of Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) and would pursue it through the LGNZ zone and sector meetings. It was emphasised that uncertain funding had significant implications on Council’s programme of work to advance public transport, which it had committed on through the Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP). The meeting was adjourned at 2.15p.m. and reconvened at 2.23p.m. There was discussion regarding the Chairperson of the Regional Transport Committee writing a letter to the MoT outlining Council’s disappointment regarding the existing engagement on the development of the GPS and its future expectations regarding engagement. It was noted that a recommendation relating to the letter would be considered later in the meeting. |
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That the Regional Transport Committee 1. Receives the Chairperson’s Report. |
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Rutledge/Noonan Carried |
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7. New Zealand Transport Agency Update
Document number R10036, agenda pages 15 - 24 refer.
Steve Higgs of the NZTA spoke to the report and answered questions. Mr Higgs noted that with respect to noise mitigation that there was a national programme for noise management which included all regions, as well as Nelson, but that unfortunately, Nelson had not been included on the list.
Mr Higgs spoke about changes to NZTA priorities, he said the Noise Enhancement Programme had received no funding and was unlikely to proceed. He advised that the NZTA was developing further thinking on this matter, which would take some time.
It was requested that the minutes record Council’s disappointment with this information.
Discussion took place including:
· the National Land Transport programme
· the GPS
· funding for local road improvements
· state highways
· levels of service
· the health issues
· modelling and thresholds
· lack of alternative programmes available to Council
· benefit cost ratios for the future
· road safety
· ongoing maintenance to the road system
· Port access
· lack of money available to the Nelson region
· the Nelson speed management programme in 20/21
· speed limit setting rules and work undertaken in our zone so that temporary speed reductions can be set
· the need for creative solutions
· onus on the NZTA to communicate with communities as to why the work consulted on will not be proceeding
· a request that Council’s frustration be communicated to the NZTA board.
Attendance: Mayor Reese left the meeting from 3.16p.m. until 3.18p.m.
The motion was taken in parts
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Resolved RTC/2019/003 |
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That the Regional Transport Committee Receives the report New Zealand Transport Agency Update (R10036) and its attachments (A2147951, A2147953, and A2163746); and |
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That the Regional Transport Committee Approves the submission on the Blenheim to Nelson Safety Improvements consultation to the New Zealand Transport Agency as drafted in Attachment 3 (A2163746); and Delegates authority to approve any changes to the submission to the Blenheim to Nelson Safety Improvements consultation, based on feedback from the meeting, to Her Worship the Mayor and the Chair of the Regional Transport Committee.
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The meeting was adjourned at 2.21 p.m. and reconvened at 3.27p.m.
6.1 Letter to the Ministry of Transport (Chairperson’s Report revisited)
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Further discussion took place on the proposed letter to the MoT. Her Worship the Mayor Reese advised that she would engage with the Chairperson of the NZTA again. |
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That the Regional Transport Committee 1. Approves that the Regional Transport Committee Chairperson write to the Ministry of Transport, specifically noting: (a) The Regional Transport Committee’s disappointment with the Ministry of Transport’s process, particularly its lack of formal notification to all Regional Transport Committee members with respect to the 25 March 2019 workshop held at Nelson City Council offices; and (b) The discussions that took place at the 25 March 2019 workshop should not be taken to be feedback from the Nelson City Council or the Nelson Regional Transport Committee; and (c) The Nelson Regional Transport Committee’s request to the Ministry of Transport for further engagement, including the provision of all material in advance of any meetings/workshops and that any feedback from the Nelson Regional Transport Committee from this process be formally acknowledged and responded to; 2. Approves that the Chair of the Regional Transport Committee provide feedback to the Ministry of Transport on the Government Policy Statement 2018: Revised Draft Measures, noting that the Regional Transport Committee will retrospectively approve the submission at the next Regional Transport Committee, currently scheduled for 1 July 2019.
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Her Worship the Mayor/Noonan Carried |
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8. Nelson Future Access Detailed Business Case Update
Document number R10066, agenda pages 25 - 38 refer.
Group Manager Infrastructure, Alec Louverdis, advised of an amendment to the agenda report to add the word ‘scope’ to the end of the sentence on paragraph 2.1, page 25.
Rhys Palmer, NZTA, provided an update, noting that the NZTA had awarded the contract for this work to Aecom NZ, partnered with Stantec. He said that the project was 21 working days behind schedule.
Mr Palmer said that the NZTA had met with Council’s planning team to discuss consistency between the Nelson Plan work currently underway and the Nelson Plan Future Access project.
He spoke about the first deliverable on agenda page 34, and confirmed that this would be considered at the first working group meeting.
Mr Palmer tabled a new timeline schedule which superseded the one in the agenda. He noted the project was a month behind, that Rocks Road was the critical deliverable and that the NZTA had set out to complete the Single Stage business case prior to the local body elections. He said that the scope document put to the steering group would discuss whether consultation on Rocks Road was required. A decision would be made in early May, and if consultation was required it would be difficult to make a decision prior to the elections.
In reply to a question about delegations, Mr Palmer noted that a list of delegations was included in the tender documents. Mr Louverdis undertook to forward the list to the Governance Group.
It was also noted that the stakeholder and community engagement list needed further consideration to ensure that stakeholders in the red area on the map would be included and would be refined with officers.
Mr Palmer said that the budget for this investigation was committed, no implementation money was involved, however there was some probable implementation budget for Rocks Road.
9. Nelson Future Access: Memorandum of Understanding
Document number R10077, agenda pages 39 - 45 refer.
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Item |
General subject of each matter to be considered |
Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter |
Particular interests protected (where applicable) |
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1 |
Regional Transport Committee Meeting - Public Excluded Minutes - 3 December 2018 |
Section 48(1)(a) The public conduct of this matter would be likely to result in disclosure of information for which good reason exists under section 7. |
The withholding of the information is necessary: · Section 7(2)(b)(ii) To protect information where the making available of the information would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is the subject of the information · Section 7(2)(i) To enable the local authority to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations (including commercial and industrial negotiations) · Section 7(2)(g) To maintain legal professional privilege
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2 |
Public Transport: Moving to a Gross Price Contract
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Section 48(1)(a) The public conduct of this matter would be likely to result in disclosure of information for which good reason exists under section 7 |
The withholding of the information is necessary: · Section 7(2)(b)(ii) To protect information where the making available of the information would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is the subject of the information · Section 7(2)(h) To enable the local authority to carry out, without prejudice or disadvantage, commercial activities |
The meeting went into public excluded session at 4.10p.m. and resumed in public session at 4.35p.m.
There being no further business the meeting ended at 4.35p.m.
Confirmed as a correct record of proceedings:
Chairperson
Date