Auckland Transport pulls out of St Heliers meeting amid safety fears from over 60s crowd

Tuesday, 16 April 2019

A video overview of AT's original plan which would have created 13 new pedestrian crossings and removed 40 car parking spaces in the St Heliers town centre (Video first published April 10, 2019).

A 'hostile' crowd of over 60s caused Auckland Transport to pull out of an Auckland community meeting due to safety concerns.

Nearly 600 members of the St Heliers community were expecting to address, with an Auckland Transport employee, concerns they had around a controversial proposals for road safety changes in the area, at a meeting on Monday.

But Auckland Transport's chief executive declined the invite to speak, citing a 'hostile' group and saying he had 'a duty of care to the wellbeing' to his employees.

Residents of St Heliers say their community is not dangerous enough to warrant losing 40 carparks.

Peter Jones, chairman of the village association, said the average age of attendees would have been '60 plus' and said residents only wanted Auckland Transport to explain the parts of a proposal that weren't clear.

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Auckland Transport wants to make the changes - which include reducing the speed limit from 50 kph to 30kph and adding 13 new crossings, which will take away 40 car parks - in St Heliers and Mission Bay as part of a city-wide road safety initiative.

But residents and businesses argue St Heliers is not as dangerous as stated - not enough to warrant losing 40 car parks.

Jones said the release of the proposal was a 'surprise' to residents and the meeting drew around 600 people - one of the biggest meetings in the area ever - which reflected people's concerns.

'The reaction wouldn't have been so outspoken if they had been more open with the consultation,' he said.

Auckland Transport were, quite rightly, trying to address road safety concerns, Jones said.

In 2017, 64 people died on Auckland's roads and 749 were seriously injured 2017.

But in the past five years there had been no deaths and only three serious accidents in St Heliers, Jones said.

'So why do we need 13 more pedestrian crossings at the cost of 40 car parks? You could spend 1.3 million dollars somewhere else, more useful.'

'People needed to hear from Auckland Transport in depth and ask questions about the plan. Maybe if we had had more information prior to that, it wouldn't have got to that stage,' he said.

In an email to the St Heliers Residents' Association, AT's chief executive Shane Ellison said it had given 'significant consideration' to the request to attend the public meeting.

There were comments about the crowd being 'hostile' and said that was not the actions expected of those who had a genuine desire for 'constructive dialogue'.

'In light of all these factors we don't believe there is anything to gain in AT having its people attending the meeting on Monday evening.

'You will also be aware that I have a duty of care to the wellbeing of AT's employees,' it said.

The email suggested community members could make their submissions online as a part of the consultation process.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff has since raised his objections to Auckland Transport's no show.

'If 600 people turn up to a meeting, everyone knows there is a hot issue that people are in disagreement with, Goff said.

'I know they [AT] is running a submission process, but they should have been there, because by not being there, they didn't want to hear the message.'

'I don't expect officials to go along to be abused, but I do expect them to go along to be accountable.

'They are not a dictatorship, they are accountable to the people, as we are. They need to show they have listened to what the people are saying, Goff said.

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