Chris Powell, of the Northland Regional Council, says the Council is currently carrying out a legally-required, three-yearly review of its existing Regional Land Transport Strategy 2003-2008.
Mr Powell, the Council’s Regional Transport Team Leader, says the latest version – the Draft Regional Land Transport Strategy for Northland - is designed to provide a planning framework for the direction of land transport in Northland until 2016.
“As its title suggests, the Draft Strategy focuses largely on land transport - specifically road and rail transport of freight and people, as well as cycling and walking. The strategy aims to identify future transport needs and try to find the safest and most cost-effective ways of meeting them.”
To ensure as much public input into the review process as possible, the Council will be seeking public submissions on the Draft Strategy until Friday 1 September.
From early next month, the Council will also hold public meetings in Kerikeri, Dargaville, Whangarei and Kaitaia to explain the Draft and how to make a submission.
All the meetings will begin at 5pm, at the following locations and dates:
Kerikeri – Wednesday 9 August 2006
Kingston House, 123 Hone Heke Road
Dargaville – Thursday 10 August 2006
Dargaville Town Hall, Hokianga Road
Whangarei – Tuesday 15 August 2006
Northland Regional Council, 36 Water Street
Kaitaia – Thursday 17 August 2006
REAP Centre, 33 Puckey Avenue
Mr Powell says copies of the full Draft Strategy or an Executive Summary of it are available from any Regional Council Office or from the Council’s website www.nrc.govt.nz
A number of supporting Northland-based technical studies are also available on request. These include the:
- Regional Passenger Transport Plan (2003)
- Regional Walking and Cycling Strategy (Draft 2005)
- Demand Management Strategy for Northland (2005)
- Northland Regional Road Safety Plan (2004-2010)
- Northland Integrated Transport Study (2002)
- Heavy Traffic Volumes in Northland (Draft 2006)
Members of the public wanting further information can visit www.nrc.govt.nz or contact Mr Powell at the Regional Council on 0800 002 004.