Council Decides Not To Appeal NAR Decision
In an informal discussion yesterday, Hastings District Councillors agreed unanimously not to fight the decision of independent commissioners to decline the Northern Arterial Route (NAR) designation.
This week independent commissioners declined the designation of the route based mainly on the effect on Maori-owned land and productive plains soils.
Hasting Mayor Lawrence Yule says Council has already spent $1.8 million over the last 10 years on getting the NAR to this point and now with so much stacked against the project the council has no appetite to appeal.
“The merits of the road still stand and we don’t agree with the Commissioners decision.
“However, given the complexities around the cultural aspects of the decision, and the case being weakened further by NZTA withdrawing funding, an appeal would be throwing good money after bad.”
“We have found the commissioners findings around looking into alternatives hard to agree with given the huge amount of work put into investigating at least 20 other options.”
The commissioners noted they had no problem with the designation from the Expressway to Tomoana Road but could not grant the designation in part.
Council has asked officers to report on whether it is worth HDC advancing with the NAR along that route and through to Karamu Rd.
Mayor Yule says the decision has fundamental implications for the north and east of Hastings and the region as a whole.
“It has an effect on areas such as Havelock North, Parkvale and Mayfair and their link to the Expressway, it does nothing to address issues around future planning of Hastings, heavy traffic flows through Fredrick St and Grove Rd or trucks being funneled along Marine Parade to the port in Napier.
“The NAR was also a natural northern boundary for the urban development of Hastings - without the NAR solutions for all those issues will have to be reinvestigated.”
For more information
Erin Harford
Communications Manager
(06) 871 5056
027 275 5205
