September 10, 2004

Mayors to meet to find solutions on V8

North Shore City mayor George Wood will meet with his Auckland City counterpart John Banks next week to discuss the proposed V8 Supercar race.

"Since the resource consent hearing was adjourned last month, our traffic engineers have been working closely with Auckland City and Transit officers to look at traffic management issues in detail," North Shore City's Mayor, George Wood, says.

"North Shore City is fully committed to this process and working actively alongside Transit and Auckland City. Next week's meeting will be another step forward."

North Shore City councillors passed a resolution at the council's strategy and finance committee meeting in June opposing the resource consent application for the race as it stands.

"We are not against the race, but it would be irresponsible to give it the go-ahead without first fully investigating the implications of shutting down a critical route into Auckland City from the harbour bridge," George Wood says.

"I am sure North Shore City Council will be supportive of the race, once councillors can be certain there is a viable solution.

"There are still many complex issues to explore - traffic management, public transport, communication, costs - and this takes time. We need to be absolutely sure Auckland's transport network can cope with such a huge disruption.

"If the race is to go ahead, there will need to be detailed planning and a water-tight management system in place. It won't just be a matter of asking a few people not to drive from the North Shore to Auckland CBD for a couple of days.

ENDS

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