Clock ticking on school speed zone changes

Friday, 30 May 2025

Variable speed zones around Palmerston North schools will be set at 30kph, not 40kph.

Palmerston North needs to speed up on its plans to slow traffic around schools at bell times.

The city council has until the end of June next year to install variable speed zones around about 45 schools.

The 30kph limit at school opening and closing times only is a Government requirement that overturns plans in 2023 to slow traffic permanently across about 75km of streets in school neighbourhoods.

Council senior policy analyst Peter Ridge told the strategy and finance committee on Wednesday that the council would have to consult the community about the details of the changes.

That was not required by the land transport setting of speed limits rule, but the Local Government Act did oblige councils to take heed of community feedback.

Speed restriction signs will have to be installed around schools by the end of June 2026.

Many councillors were reluctant to kick off another round of consultation after hundreds of people had responded to earlier proposals.

Councillor Karen Naylor asked whether the views of those who responded would be any different now.

Ridge said the current proposals were narrower, and there would be changes given that one school had closed, another had opened, schools had many different starting and closing times, and exactly where the new flashing speed limit signs should be installed could still be modified.

The proposals will not go out to the public before October’s local body elections.

Traffic speeds on Pioneer Highway/State Highway 56 are an impediment to residential development at Te Wanaka Rd.

The draft speed management plan will also seek feedback on proposals to have speed restrictions at two significant intersections on the city’s rural fringe.

One would be for Te Wanaka Rd/State Highway 56, where current speed limits were a barrier to developing rezoned residential land at Kikiwhenua for housing.

The other, which already had funding approval from NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, was the accident “black spot” at Longburn/Rongotea Rd and No 1 Line.

But despite pleas from mayor Grant Smith and councillor Brent Barrett, there will be no proposal to lower speed limits inside the city centre ring road to 30kph.

Roadworks around The Square have helped to slow traffic – for example, the Streets for People block outside The Plaza that was completed in 2020. (File photo)

Smith said limiting speeds in the central city had been on the agenda for about 12 years, while New Zealand’s metropolitan areas and most middle-sized cities and towns had all made the change to lower speeds.

Barrett said it would improve safety and make the city centre more of a destination and less of a “shortcut to Woodville”.

The attempt failed, with other councillors saying it was not a priority.

Councillor William Wood said most people could not travel faster than 30kph through the city centre anyway as a result of the way streets had been altered and engineered in recent years.

Councillor Billy Meehan said there was no need to do more as those designs already took care of speeds, and anyone who was found in the city centre looking for Woodville was simply “lost”.