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By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Blanket speed reductions across West Coast roads will be rolled back by the end of the year with the Government announcing a new timeline ending the 'road to zero' safety campaign.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown confirmed the current … View moreBy local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Blanket speed reductions across West Coast roads will be rolled back by the end of the year with the Government announcing a new timeline ending the 'road to zero' safety campaign.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown confirmed the current "untargeted approach" to speed settings would go when the new Land Transport Policy is signed off by the end of the year.
The blanket speed setting rollback will include council controlled roads and the State Highway network.
Brown said the previous 'road to zero' policy had resulted in blanket speed limit reductions rather than targeting high crash areas.
Now, economic impact - including travel time - and the views of local communities and road users will have to be considered alongside safety in setting speed limits.
Variable speed limits outside schools during pickup and drop-off times would remain; speeds of 110kph will be allowed on some roads "of national significance".
In January the West Coast Regional Transport Committee (RTC) decided to press ahead with its proposed speed management plan anyway.
That was despite the minister's directive in December to stop speed reduction work.
The now released West Coast Regional Speed Management Plan, which closes for public submissions on April 16, focuses only on local roads and school zones in the region.
Transport consultant Matthew Noon told the January RTC meeting the regional speed management approach was supported by the three district council road control authorities, "not withstanding the changes".
The draft plan includes blanket speed reductions to 30kph across the entire villages of Blackball and Moana, however, the region's state highway network was excluded.
Greymouth mayor Tania Gibson on Friday welcomed the rollback after previously expressing "shock and horror" at the implications of proposed blanket speed reductions in the region.
"It's good that this has been rolled back … we were pretty appalled. We were not happy at all and would have fought what was proposed to us," Gibson said.
The focus on school speed zones "and keeping kids safe" was the right priority while the proposed 30kph limit across Moana had come out of community advocacy, she said.
However, she said the rationale for the Blackball proposal was less clear.
"Blackball is the one that was discussed that may be contentious but we will be listening very closely to their views … I believe the proposals have gone too far," Gibson said.
West Coast Transport Committee chairperson Peter Ewen said local communities should be having a say in setting speed and welcomed the new approach.
He said it was in contrast to a top down approach where the blanket speed reductions had come down "as a decree".
The region needed meaningful input at a local level although it was unclear yet what role the RTC would play, Ewen said.
"If you want to take anything forward with speeds, you've got to take the local community with you. The blanket speed thing, that's what got people's backs up," he said.
Brown's office told LDR the mechanism to bring local communities and road user views into the conversation under the proposed policy is still being developed.
West Coast Road Safety coordinator Glenys Byrne said they endorse the conversations around proposed speed limit changes on the West Coast.
"In particular it is good that the councils have committed to improving the safety of our tamariki by proposing to reduce all the speed limits around their schools," Byrne said.
However, she said there needed to be a wider conversation about road safety.
"We know that there are more crashes within our networks than what gets officially recorded and many of these are a direct result of inappropriate speed," she said.
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By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
The West Coast's largest town no longer has public wheelchair transport.
The inequality for disabled people was highlighted at a hearing of the region's draft regional public transport plan.
The subsidised service for Greymouth ended … View moreBy local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
The West Coast's largest town no longer has public wheelchair transport.
The inequality for disabled people was highlighted at a hearing of the region's draft regional public transport plan.
The subsidised service for Greymouth ended early in 2023 when the operator withdrew citing lack of use.
West Coast Disability Steering Group chair Michael Nolan said the town's residential care homes provided their own mobility transport – but it was not a licenced public service.
A community shuttle run by St John carried out some hospital transfers, "but at a huge cost of hundreds of dollars".
That meant, "there's actually nothing" for people carrying out their daily business in Greymouth, Nolan said.
The Total Mobility concession scheme is also the only public transport provision for disabled people in the region.
It is administered by the West Coast Regional Council, although the Westland and Buller district councils also subsidise local taxi services in Hokitika and Westport.
On March 13, Disabled Persons Assembly regional policy adviser Chris Ford said they accepted the difficulty posed by the West Coast covering such a large, sparsely populated area
"It poses significant challenges to access public transport," Ford told the hearing.
Those with a disability already faced "significant barriers" given the limited transport options currently in the region.
And its largest urban area, Greymouth, had lost its subsidised mobility service after the operator withdrew citing compliance and lack of use issues, Ford said.
Wheelchair capable taxi services remained in Hokitika and Westport at this stage.
It was also "disappointing and frustrating" disabled transport users from the region were excluded from a national card scheme under the Total Mobility scheme, he said. This was supposed to enable users to access transport across the country.
Ford said the Disabled Persons Assembly believed the council, which is charged with administering the region's public transport, was only partially meeting its obligations under the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.
The group wanted to see the council fully examine the need for more accessible public transport options "for everyone," Ford said.
Meanwhile, Nolan said the council's current chit books for Total Mobility users required a lot of explaining and planning to book mobility transport outside the region.
Nolan called for a more comprehensive approach to increase accessible transport in the region, which has been concentrated to the three main towns.
"This can hardly be improved if the initial service is not provided for and what can be quantified as 'lack of use'," he said.
Additionally, commercial transport providers in the region did not account for the disabled - with existing bus services to, from and within the region providing no disabled access, he said.
A consolidated effort was needed including making subsidies for private operators available to offer mobility transport, Nolan said.
He also called for the region's transport decision makers to invite disability advocates - including those "with lived experience of disabilities" - to the table to discuss solutions.
Regional council chief executive Darryl Lew said the issue of a national disability access card had been investigated for some time by central Government for years but nothing had landed yet.
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By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
The restoration of the 100-year-old home of a remarkable pioneering photographer who documented West Coast mining life has been formally opened.
The $100,000 project undertaken by the Department of Conservation has breathed new life into the home … View moreBy local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
The restoration of the 100-year-old home of a remarkable pioneering photographer who documented West Coast mining life has been formally opened.
The $100,000 project undertaken by the Department of Conservation has breathed new life into the home of Jos Divis who lived in the cottage from the 1920s until his death in 1967.
Members of Divis' family, including his great niece, travelled from the Czech Republic to formally cut the ribbon on Friday, March 15.
The celebration marked the culmination of a complex restoration by DOC over the past two years which brought the fragile wooden structure back from the brink - amid renewed interest in Divis' photographic legacy.
Born in 1885 in what is now the Czech Republic, he emigrated to the West Coast about 1909, first living in Blackball then following an itinerant life as a mine worker for several years before becoming a fixture of Waiuta.
There Divis worked in the large underground gold mine and documented the community in a startling record of the town which continues to lives on in his images.
As a keen amateur photographer, Divis, documented the mining workplace in often startling photography.
This often included the photographer himself posed within his photos as an early form of the 'selfie' by deploying self timer technology of the day.
Divis was widely published in the national newspapers until the late 1930s.
He also documented the demise of Waiuta as a town when the mine suddenly closed in 1951. At the time it had been the largest underground gold mine of its kind in the South Island.
Divis' remarkable legacy of thousands of photographs is still being discovered amidst a resurgence of interest in his legacy with three current exhibitions including an opening at the National Library in Wellington this week.
Simon Nathan, the maker of a recent documentary on Divis, said the historic legacy of Divis is pure gold.
"One of the things that has been fascinating is, I keep on finding Jos Divis' photographs," he said on Friday.
This included Divis' descendants recently sharing fresh material buried in a family album of his early days on the West Coast, Nathan said.
Divis' work is also contained within many hidden personal albums of families with Waiuta links.
While there is an extensive archive of Divis' work in the National Library of NZ, along with that of Waiuta families links, his commercial post card work was also beginning to come to light, Nathan said.
World Heritage Site evaluator and DOC heritage adviser Paul Mahoney said he did not believe Divis' legacy had been given enough credit yet in New Zealand.
"I don't think there's anyone else in New Zealand who has documented a work place and a community in such a way. He was away ahead of his time," Mahoney said.
Heritage NZ deputy chief executive Nic Jackson paid tribute to DOC and the Friends of Waiuta who in an unique partnership had ensured the fabric of the Waiuta Tohu Whenua site continued to be enhanced, namely through the Divis cottage restoration.
"Here at Waiuta we can say a picture paints a thousand words, with thousands of pictures taken by Jos of life on the West Coast," Jackson said.
The Waiuta township site is one of six Tohu Whenua sites on the West Coast.
While Waiuta is now a ghost town the images taken by Divis of a town which was "a hive of bustling life" was unique, Jackson said.
"Much of the town's physical life has gone but Jos brings it to life for us."
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By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Almost every urban area on the West Coast is included in a raft of speed reduction proposals - some to as low as 30kph.
Under a newly released draft regional speed management plan for the region entire villages like Blackball and Moana will have … View moreBy local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Almost every urban area on the West Coast is included in a raft of speed reduction proposals - some to as low as 30kph.
Under a newly released draft regional speed management plan for the region entire villages like Blackball and Moana will have their current 50kph limit reduced to 30kph.
The Greymouth CBD is already down to 30kph.
But more of its suburban streets will drop around its school zones.
The draft proposes a wider blanket application of 30kph on more streets in the wider vicinity, rather than straight outside, the Blaketown, Cobden, John Paul II/St Patricks, Grey Main, Gremouth High School and Karoro schools sites.
This is in line with every one of the West Coast's 29 school zones being changed.
Submissions on the draft West Coast Regional Speed Management Plan have opened, with the end date being April 5.
The draft plan under the West Coast Regional Transport Committee (RTC) encompasses about 1900km of local roads controlled by the three district councils.
It also nods to the State highway network administered by the NZ Transport Agency and some roads administered by the Department of Conservation.
The draft identifies high priority local roads and high priority areas across the three districts to be part of the national Speed Management Plan.
However the timing for the draft's proposals is now uncertain following the new Government signalling its intention to change the settings of the Transport Policy Statement, including the mandatory settings for speed management, and the minister of transport having the final say.
In January the RTC decided to press ahead with public submissions anyway.
RTC chairperson Peter Ewen said today the final shape of the Government's signalled new transport policy impacting the draft's proposals is still "a $64,000 question".
However the scrapping of mandatory speed reductions from 100kph to 80kph on some State highways was a fair indication.
Ewen said the changed policy landscape is likely to be a hot topic at an upcoming meeting of South Island regional transport sector group next month.
"We've got to see what happens in the next 100 days."
The draft says 1099 people responded to a regional community transport survey from October December 2022, informing the draft plan.
Nearly 90% of the respondents considered the Road to Zero policy aim for speed reductions to be important or very important.
Respondents considered Road to Zero "as the most crucial strategic direction" compared to the options in the survey of zero carbon and emissions reductions, climate change, natural hazard resilience, and economic development.
High priority roads/areas under the proposal:
- Grey District: Blackball and Moana (30), Sumner Road at Gladstone (30).
- Westland: parts of Kumara, Arahura Pa, Hokitika, Ross and Franz Josef all down to 30.
- Buller: Kohaihai Road in Karamea (60), Little Wanganui (40), Gentle Annie (60/30), Powerhouse Road at Fairfield (60), Westport Palmerston Street (30), Omau at Cape Foulwind (60), Nile/Okari near Charleston (40/60).
It also includes speed reductions from 100kph to 20kph on three Department of Conservation controlled roads in Buller.
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Some of the West Coast's 650 whitebait stand holders owe the West Coast Regional Council for failing to pay their consent fees.
The matter came up as the council discussed its new policy to address non-rates aged receivable debt.
Council chairperson Peter Haddock said the combined … View moreSome of the West Coast's 650 whitebait stand holders owe the West Coast Regional Council for failing to pay their consent fees.
The matter came up as the council discussed its new policy to address non-rates aged receivable debt.
Council chairperson Peter Haddock said the combined whitebait debt more than three months old owed by standholders was unacceptable.
"We've got white-baiter debtors of $40,000-plus. I would have thought if you don't pay your licence, there is no licence.
"We're not a benevolent society here," Haddock said on March 5.
At the end of January, the council had $1.55 million in outstanding debt of more than 30 days old.
Of that, whitebait stand-holders collectively owed $44,076 of unpaid fees for 90 days or more.
This is despite whitebait stands on West Coast rivers being in hot demand and lucrative for holders in good years.
Individuals can in a good season earn tens of thousands of dollars from selling the delicacy.
Many stands have are held inter-generationally, with their right to keep it a recreational activity fiercely defended in recent years.
Council charges West Coast whitebait standholders an annual resource consent monitoring fee of $201.25.
The fees are usually invoiced in July each year.
Whitebait stand consent holders must also pay an annual administration charge of $115 for each individual whitebait stand consent file held.
Councillor Brett Cummings said whitebait and also gravel take debtors should have their privileges withheld.
"If they are not paying their gravel or whitebait fees, they should be removed."
Chief executive Darryl Lew said council was legally unable to withdraw a consent on the basis of non-payment.
However, acting consents and compliance manager Chris Barnes said it could for whitebait standholders.
Councillor Peter Ewen said the overall $1.55m debt currently owed to the council affected the financial bottom line.
He wanted to know the quantum of debt written off annually as an impact on the rates strike.
"All this reflects on our rates strike at the end of the year - our bottom line," he said.
Other overdue debtors, by more than three months at the end of January, included $91,846 for 'sundry debtors,' $133,856 for 'work order' debt, and overdue gravel compliance monitoring fees of $66,735.
Cummings said the debt backlog was unsettling.
"It's scary. You wouldn't run a business like this."
Councillor Frank Dooley said the council had to be highly active about debt collecting, although its new policy adopted in November had seen $100,887 recovered in one month.
Ewen said a significant problem for the council was payment for work funded by Government departments, which took time to flow through.
He said the 'aged debt' breakdown presented to the meeting should be itemised by sector so it was transparent who owed what.
"I would like to know what the Crown's outstanding debt is."
Lew said most of the Government agency payment debt was to do with the council's infrastructure programme via Kanoa.
Following negotiations recently it was now "proactively paying us ahead of time".
"We're not effectively bankrolling these things any more.
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