MEDIA RELEASE
19 September 2005

Community submissions for Draft Transport Strategy ‘extremely encouraging’

Rodney District Mayor John Law has paid tribute to the Rodney community for its “overwhelming response” to the district’s Draft Transport Strategy, which closed for submissions on Friday 16 September.

More than 150 submissions were received from the community and key stakeholders - an enormous achievement for the council, said Mr Law, considering that the ARC received around 250 for the whole Auckland region in a recent transport submission process.

“Transport strongly affects our everyday lives and is crucial to the way our district develops. Rodney, being one of the country’s fastest growing districts, is presented with some real present and future challenges. A positive and proactive response to these challenges will ensure that transport enhances the quality of life in the district,”said the mayor.

“To this end, the number of submissions is good indication of people’s understanding and also people’s commitment to the process – it is extremely encouraging and I’d like to personally thank everyone who took the time to submit a response.”

For those who indicated that they wanted to be heard at a hearing, a public meeting will be held at the Council offices in Orewa on October 7.

A council spokesperson said that no decisions would be made and no action taken until all submissions have been summarised and any questions raised in the hearing are considered.

The council is now summarising submissions and is expected to have integrated community input to produce a finalised strategy before the end of the year.

ENDS

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