Minutes of a meeting of the Regional Transport Committee
Held in the Council Chamber, Civic House, 110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson
On Monday 1 July 2019, commencing at 1.35p.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, B McGurk and S Walker, Chief Executive (P Dougherty), Group Manager Infrastructure (A Louverdis), and Governance Adviser (E Stephenson)
Apologies : Her Worship the Mayor for lateness
1. Apologies
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Resolved RTC/2019/013 |
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That the Regional Transport Committee 1. Receives and accepts the apology from Her Worship the Mayor for lateness. |
2. Confirmation of Order of Business
There was no change to the order of business
There were no updates to the Interests Register, and no interests with items on the agenda were declared.
4.1 Nelsust - What should Nelson's Regional Transport look like in a Climate Emergency?
Attendance: Her Worship the Mayor entered the meeting at 1.39p.m.
5. Chairperson's Report (Agenda Item 6)
In response to a question regarding the effects of the changed speed limit on Waimea Road, Group Manager Infrastructure, Alec Louverdis, said that officers would report back at a suitable time, but that it was still too early to extract meaningful data.
6. Confirmation of Minutes (Agenda Item 5)
6.1 15 April 2019
Document number M4160, agenda pages 8 - 16 refer.
A minor correction to the minutes on agenda page 11 was noted.
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Resolved RTC/2019/015 |
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That the Regional Transport Committee 1. Confirms the minutes of the meeting of the Regional Transport Committee, held on 15 April 2019, as a true and correct record. |
7. New Zealand Transport Agency Update - Atawhai Speed Review and other matters
Document number R9903, agenda pages 17 - 21 refer.
The meeting was adjourned at 2.01p.m. and reconvened at 2.02p.m.
Jim Harland, NZTA, thanked Council for its support during this challenging time. A printed PowerPoint presentation was tabled. Topics in the update included:
· National Land Transport Plan (NLTP) funding
· The NZTA’s 10 year plan (Arataki – Our Plan for the Land Transport System), and its inputs into the next NLTP
· The NZTA Investment Decision-Making framework
· Ratings and the shift in emphasis to safety, place making, access, environment and value for money
· Technical workshops to develop a draft framework which would provide guidance on business cases
· Speed management was a top priority, focusing on safety for users of footpaths and roadways
· Speed review decisions, targeting the top 10% of areas at risk
· Innovating streets for people, the need to recognise liveable places when planning networks.
Mr Harland answered questions regarding alignment between the NLTP and Regional Land Transport Plans (RLTP) and speed management, in particular relating to cost effectiveness.
In response to a question regarding how quickly they could start looking at implementation costs and engineering solutions for innovating streets for people, and the possibility of a trial for willing residents, Steve Higgs, NZTA, offered to find out what was intended under that programme and report back to the next Committee meeting.
Further discussion took place regarding 10 year plans and changes in government, discretionary funding, changes as a result of three year reviews, the economic cost of speed management to the region and prioritisation of the Atawhai section of the Nelson to Blenheim corridor improvements.
8. Update on South Island Visitor Flows Project
Document number R10192, agenda pages 22 - 23 refer.
Manager Transport and Solid Waste, Marg Parfitt, spoke to the report. She advised that the Committee would be kept updated regarding progress.
Steve Higgs, NZTA, answered questions regarding the project, including data sources, a reliable source of truth, effects of visitor numbers on infrastructure and the next stage of the project.
In response to a question regarding the policy of the RTC South Island Chairs Group, the Chairperson advised that he had only been to one meeting where this was discussed. He advised that the South Island Freight Project had just been received and that he would update the Committee at the next meeting.
The benefit of the region having the right data to build into business cases was highlighted and in terms of the desire for tourist dispersal over the South Island, the need to ensure that the region had the draw cards to encourage tourists here. It was emphasised that the trends for reduction in air travel and increase in land travel meant that reliable visitor flow information would be very helpful in building a tourism strategy.
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That the Regional Transport Committee 1. Receives the report Update on South Island Visitor Flows Project (R10192).
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9. Submission to Ministry of Transport Government Policy Statement 2018 : Revised draft measures
Document number R10207, agenda pages 24 - 31 refer.
Manager Transport and Solid Waste, Marg Parfitt, noted that this was a procedural matter to retrospectively approve the submission that had been sent to the Ministry of Transport (MoT). Ms Parfitt noted that the Ministry of Transport had acknowledged the submission.
The meeting was adjourned at 3.01p.m. and reconvened at 3.09p.m.
10. Nelson Future Access Update
Document number R10225, agenda pages 32 - 38 refer.
Rhys Palmer and Coral Aldridge, NZTA, spoke to the report and answered questions regarding the Investment Logic Map (ILM), the membership of the Project Reference Group and public engagement.
Mr Palmer answered questions regarding the Rocks Road Walking and Cycling project, noting that a decision to push the project out had been made by the NZTA after a recommendation by the Steering Group. Discussion took place on the state of the sea wall, the difficult consenting environment and progression of the business case. Frustration was expressed by members at the revised programme. A request was made for better engagement with the political side of council on changes of that magnitude.
Her Worship the Mayor raised a Point of Order against Councillor Barker regarding a comment that the climate change emergency had been declared at the request of the Government. The Point of Order was upheld by the Chairperson and Councillor Barker withdrew the comment and apologised.
Further discussion took place regarding the need to ensure a credible set of options to get the best chance of funding on a national basis.
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That the Regional Transport Committee 1. Receives the report Nelson Future Access Update (R10225) and its attachment (A2214088).
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11. 2017/18 Annual Monitoring Report on the Regional Land Transport Plan 2015-2021
Document number R10262, agenda pages 39 - 61 refer.
Attendance: Her Worship the Mayor Reese left the meeting at 4.12p.m.
Manager Transport and Solid Waste, Marg Parfitt, answered questions regarding the monitoring report, including, HPMV routes, setting of targets, cycling and walking counts and availability of data.
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That the Regional Transport Committee 1. Receives the report 2017/18 Annual Monitoring Report on the Regional Land Transport Plan 2015-2021 (R10262) and its attachment (A2015759)
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12. Regional Land Transport Plan variation - Nelson State Highway Speed Management Guide Implementation
Document number R10295, agenda pages 62 - 69 refer.
Steve Higgs and Jeanine Foster, NZTA, spoke to the report and answered questions regarding the request to vary the Nelson RLTP 2018-21.
Attendance: Her Worship the Mayor returned to the meeting at 4.25p.m.
Steve Higgs, of The New Zealand Transport Agency, was in attendance for Item 2 of the Public Excluded agenda - Public Transport Contract – supplementary report, to answer questions and, accordingly, the following resolution was required to be passed:
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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 - 15 April 2019 |
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 |
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2 |
Public Transport Contract - supplementary report
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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)(i) To enable the local authority to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations (including commercial and industrial negotiations) |
The meeting went into public excluded session at 4.31p.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