By John McDonald (CityWatch NZ Editor and 2024 Hamilton East Ward By-election Candidate)
In March 2024, the councillors for Hamilton City put on an absurd display before they voted to approve the installation of another raised platform on one of our City’s busiest roads.
A year later, there is a public consultation for the proposed Wairere Drive speed reduction, which is associated with that plan to install the new speed bumps at the Karewa Place intersection.
With this critical public consultation due in early March 2025, it is worth reflecting on that 5 March 2024 Infrastructure and Transport Committee meeting and how we ended up in this situation. That Council committee meeting also provides a range of quotes which highlight major problems within Hamilton City Council and contemporary local government more generally.
The committee meeting was both a joke and a serious issue. The selected quotes from that meeting demonstrate the farce and provide an overview of the committee’s discussion on the planned Karewa Place intersection. The video of committee discussion is linked below and the selected quotes are included at the end of this article.
If Hamilton City Council goes ahead with installing the raised intersection on Wairere Drive, then commuters can remember these giggling Councillors every time they crunch over the new bumps or pay their suspension repair bills.
What is the current situation?
- Hamilton City Council voted on 5 March 2024 to approve the installation of traffic lights and raised speed bump features on the intersection between Wairere Drive and Karewa Place.
- The resource consent to build a new Pak ‘n Save supermarket in Te Rapa, requires the supermarket developers to pay to install the intersection changes (raised platforms, traffic lights, and a right turning bay).
- “Hamilton City Council is proposing to reduce the speed from 80km/h to 60km/h to make the intersection of Wairere Drive and Karewa Place safer for those accessing the new supermarket” and is having a public consultation until 7 March 2025.
- Hamilton City Council is claiming that the City cannot have the new supermarket unless both the proposed speed reduction is approved and the raised platforms are installed.
Proposed intersection changes, 5 March 2024 HCC Open Agenda
What should have happened in the 5 March 2024 Committee meeting (…in my opinion)?
- Councillors should have voted against installing any kind of speed bumps (raised intersection or raised crossings) on Wairere Drive.
- Councillors should have opposed reducing the speed limit from 80km/h to 60km/h along that section of Wairere Drive.
- Councillors should have voted for an amendment to the resource consent for the new Pak ‘n Save supermarket, to remove the requirement for the Kawera Place – Wairere Drive intersection modifications.
- If councillors cannot directly amend the supermarket resource consent, then they needed to urgently support the process of having commissioners re-evaluate the resource consent to take into account community views and the negative impacts on road-users.
- Councillors should have reminded Council staff (and each other) that, within living memory, our civilisation was capable of building supermarkets without installing raised safety crossings.
What did happen in the 5 March 2024 Committee meeting?
- Many councillors appeared to know, and sometimes admit, that the raised intersection and speed reduction are bad ideas and know that the changes will be very unpopular.
- Staff and resource management act capture was admitted by some Councillors.
- There was plenty of joking, laughing, and giggling as Councillors discussed approving a design which will effectively add additional speed humps to the journeys of more than 20,000 travellers per day on one of Hamilton’s busiest roads.
- The Chairperson of the Committee attempted to suppress the democratic process by insisting that all councillors vote for the planned raised platform and speed limit reduction, stating that they “don’t really have a choice”.
- The City Council system (whether staff or Councillors) seemed incapable of comprehending that it is possible to build a new supermarket without installing another raised platform or raised crossings on this major road.
- Councillors put considerable emphasis on positive messaging and communications in their discussions.
- Most Councillors, the Mayor, the Maangai Maaori representative, and the Deputy Mayor voted to approve the installation of a raised platform(s) and traffic lights on the intersection. Only Councillor Donovan and Councillor Bydder voted against the intersection design. (However, their dissent during this vote was not recorded in the Committee minutes)
What can we do about it now?
- Make your views known at the consultation for the proposed Wairere Drive speed limit reduction (Due 7 March 2025).
- Contact the Director of Land Transport (at the New Zealand Transport Agency) to let your views be known about the speed reduction and the raised intersection design.
- Contact Pak n’ Save or FoodStuffs. If you object to the raised platforms and lower speed limits, ask them to apply to amend the resource consent for the new supermarket in Te Rapa.
- Let Council staff and Councillors know that we want them to focus on making good decisions; not making bad decisions with positive messaging.
- Encourage people to get involved in the 2025 Local Body Election. Discuss the issues and encourage people to vote. Make both City Council staff and the Councillors accountable for these decisions.
Selected quotes from the 5 March 2024 Infrastructure and Transport Committee
“We have to go through with it, even though this is a major ring road, well it is the ringroad… we just have to do it…
…We don’t really have a choice.”
Committee Chairperson, Deputy Mayor Angela O’Leary @ 13:16
“How might we, as the Council, be able to work with Pak ’n Save to, um, create a positive message and story about this?”
Deputy Chairperson, Councillor Maxine van Oosten @ 13:19
“For me it’s economic growth versus job creation…
…we got over 700 public submissions back, with 80% of them opposed to lowering the speed from 80 to 60, and that resonated with me because it is a main arterial route.”
Committee Chairperson, Deputy Mayor Angela O’Leary @ 13:31
“I guess I am saying that, I would suggest to the public who would, when they hear of this news, that they may be dissatisfied with the outcome of the lowering of the speed, of a raised safety platform, of pedestrian lights and access. That that is a small sacrifice to pay. That this committee has unanimously gone on that journey. A very difficult journey and weighed that up. But it is a small sacrifice to pay for, speed [?], uh for the promise of a new supermarket…
…so it is about economic growth and weighing those up, it is one of the more difficult decisions I think in this committee, that we have had over the years and I appreciate and look forward to everyone’s unanimous support for on that today. Thank you.”
Committee Chairperson, Deputy Mayor Angela O’Leary @ 13:32
“Yeah very briefly, I fully endorse what you just said. I’m reminded of the hierarchy of decision making. When the resource consent was given, when the commissioners turned their mind to having heard the evidence, they made a decision and they put a hook in there. Um, and staff rightly, having followed thee, um, ah, resource consent, said the only way we can achieve, um, the signalised crossing is by having a raised platform, and we were captured, ha ha. And, um, we have then as a consequence tried to do everything to mitigate, in a meaningful way. Ah, but the cascade of effects, um, we were somewhat hung by our own petard… right? ”
Councillor Ewan Wilson @ 13:33
“This is a very good example of what has gone horribly wrong with the Resource Management Act and resource consents. Um, I see that the application for the consent was made in 2018, so this is 6 years into the process for a supermarket. Um, resource consents are supposed to be processed in 20 working days…
…so something is wrong with our system, um, and the result of this is we are getting an outcome that is wrong…
…I cannot support a raised crossing in this location”
Councillor Andrew Bydder @ 13:34
“Councillor Sarah has reminded me again today, um, that I need to put my hand up for this one. Because I am, um, partially responsible for this outcome in a way. Initially, I was very, um, anti the idea of an arterial route being reduced in speed and concerned about the need to conserve our ring road and the integrity of it… I subsequently did a 179, and thought about the need for the supermarket, and, um, so I changed my view on that. And, unfortunately, we are kinda forced into a position where in order to put in the lights etcetera, we need to put in the, um, accompanying, um, stuff. So, it is what it is. And Sarah, I hope you are happier now.”
Councillor Geoff Taylor @ 13:35
[Laughter and giggling from the other side of the Council Chamber]
“My only comment is, would Councillor Taylor be willing to front the communications plan for this?
[Laughter, smiles, and giggling from Council chamber]
…Thank you.”
Councillor Sarah Thomson @ 13:36
[More laughter, smiles, and giggling from Council chamber]
“There was a lot of flipping and flopping going on, by all sorts of people, and, um, I have been accused of that in the past. So I love to use a little bit of flip-flop reminder on someone else, just saying, not gonna mention names but we all know who we’re talking about.
.We must work with those most affected by our projects, that’s clear. We have to work with the businesses because they’ve got to be viable and sustainable through, a um, work period.
Now you’ve got to crack some egg, you got to crack eggs to make an omelet though, so to make progress for our city we are going to have to do some things with cones, with the dreaded orange cones. And you can see cones in two ways they there are a reminder of a bump you didn’t like or they a reminder that this city is growing and developing and putting good infrastructure in place in some places. And I believe it is, I really do. Not every single raised crossing across the city is bad. I, we, had zero, zero, just saying again zero, um, reaction to the one on Te Aroha – Grey Street and when I was involved in that, oh I don’t know seven years ago now. Um, except from a fantastic response from the school. That’s the one on the roundabout on the corner of Grey and Te Aroha. They’re very low and slopey and you know there’s, there’s some questions, they’re a little bit different from ones we’ve seen later. But they’re there all the same, so you know let’s not always throw the baby out with the bath water and just because we hear the words hump or speed hump or something we go and go down that down that track. It’s about the right solution for the right place. And I actually support however the motion that’s being put up because I think in this instance after all that political churn, and after all that technical work that we’re doing, we will get a good outcome for both the supermarket and the local community that travel that road.”
Mayor Paula Southgate @ 13:37
“I was looking at the at figure four on page, what is this, 24, and um, with the macroscope design and I was cringing because I can just picture, um, congestion and standstill traffic like just not going anywhere for a longer period of time. And, um, you know having another Supermarket is amazing, it’s you know, it’s competition in the market and new offering and, um, uh bringing in more customers but it also will have an impact on the overall traffic flows because that’s a lot of people in that area who are not there at the moment”
Councillor Kesh Naidoo-Rauf @ 13:40
“There is a saying, “flearning”, You fail and you learn. And so I think that is quite reflective of this morning”
Maangai Maaori Norm Hill @ 13:43
“I’m a little concerned that there are some members that feel, as Councillor Wilson has pointed out, that there is a choice here. Um, this is a resource consent and I am not going to take a step that’s going to put us towards a judicial review. So I am concerned about the debate from Councillor Bydder and Councillor Naidoo-Rauf. This is about growth, and look it’s a compromise…. And a lot of us, some of us, don’t like the idea of a safety, raised safety platform. But, uh, there is not really any choice…”
Committee Chairperson Deputy Mayor Angela O’Leary @ 13:45
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Further reading on this issue:
Consultation Closes 7 March 2025: Lowering Speed Limit on Wairere Drive, Hamilton
