Kaipara District Council, the NZ Transport Agency and the Kaiwaka community have together developed a plan to address community concerns about traffic and pedestrian safety in Kaiwaka, while also improving the overall attractiveness of the township.
Feedback collected from the wider Kaiwaka community, alongside the input from community group ‘Kaiwaka Can’ and local Iwi, Te Uri o Hau, has helped shape the basis of this Township Improvement Plan.
The Plan details actions or projects to be carried out within the short to medium term (2016-2021), as well as aspirational or longer term ideas to achieve the overall vision for Kaiwaka as a safe, connected, green, vibrant and distinctive place. The emphasis of the improvements has been on developing stronger environmental and design cues to help change driver behaviour, as well as improving Kaiwaka as a place for people to want to slow down and visit.
The NZ Transport Agency, Kaipara District Council and the Kaiwaka community each have a shared responsibility for implementing this plan and delivering projects to support the vision. Many of the improvements will be dependent on available budgets for their implementation, so those which require larger amounts of funding are therefore considered long term and will need to be approved by Council.
Council’s Chief Executive Graham Sibery acknowledged the cooperative work of NZTA and the Kaiwaka community. Council received a report on Kaiwaka improvements at the December meeting and will continue to work with both parties to improve outcomes for the Kaiwaka community.
The Transport Agency’s Northland Regional Director Ernst Zollner says that improving safety is a top priority and the plans will help create a better balance between the people living and visiting Kaiwaka and the freight and commuter vehicles that travel on State Highway 1 through the community.
During the 2016/2017 financial year, the following actions will be completed:
Further actions are anticipated to be implemented longer term, in keeping with the overall vision.
The full plan can be viewed online on the Community Planning page of Kaipara District Council’s website and hard copies are available at the Kaiwaka Library.
The outcome of the recent NZ Transport Agency proposal to rationalize speeds through the Kaiwaka Township to 60km an hour is still to be determined.
