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Transport Committee finalises three- year programme, developing new long-term strategy
 
The Canterbury Regional Transport Committee* this week finalised its recommendation on levels of funding and priorities for all transport activities in Canterbury over the next three years, by approving the region's first Regional Land Transport Programme.

The next step is for Environment Canterbury to register the programme with the Government's transport body - the New Zealand Transport Agency. The Agency will review every region's programmes and announce in August which activities across New Zealand will get Government funding.

The finalisation of the new three-year programme marks the end of a busy 10-month period, which included public consultation and hearings in April, May and June, in parallel with each council’s long term plans.

"This committee had to hit the ground running in September to meet this deadline,” said regional councillor Jo Kane, who chairs the committee. “The fact that we did it during a period of change at Government level demonstrates how united this region is in its commitments to delivering transport and keeping Canterbury moving. There is financial strain on every council at this time in balancing their long term plans, as there is at Government level, however I am confident the transport investment this region has now signalled to Government represents excellent value for money and will deliver on its economic development objectives.

“I look forward to hearing good news in August on how our funding requests have been received," said Cr Kane.

The programme sets out a prioritised list of activities for the next three years, and it also includes non-prioritised activities reliant upon Government funding. Forecast expenditure over the next ten years is planned to reach $3.7 billion, with $917 million in the next three years.

Longer term strategy development beginning
 At the same meeting, the committee agreed to initiate planning for the next Regional Land Transport Strategy, to be in place by 2011. This 30-year strategy sets the future direction for regional transport development.

"We need to keep ahead of the issues in Canterbury," said Cr Kane. "Our current strategy was developed in 1997 and a lot has changed since that time - our populations are growing, the end of cheap oil is upon us, yet congestion continues to grow and travel costs continue to rise.

“How current and future generations meet their transport needs in an affordable, safe and sustainable way has to be something we must think about in planning for the future."

There will be a number of opportunities for people to get involved in helping to shape the new strategy, with the focus for the next six months on gathering the issues. "In the future Government will be looking to see how the activities we propose line up with our strategy," said Cr Kane. "Identifying the right issues and the right projects at the right time is the key to getting our fair share of national funding, and we can only do that with good awareness and buy-in from local communities and councils."

“There was a clear desire for that to happen from all committee members this week and I look forward to getting round all the councils in our region to emphasise how important this document will be in the future development of Canterbury's transport system." Funding for the strategy development is split into $658,000 in the 2009/10 financial year and $788,000 the following year.

For more information contact Cr Jo Kane, Chair of the Regional Transport Committee, 027 323 2326.

* The Canterbury Regional Transport Committee has members from each local council in the region, the New Zealand Transport Agency and Environment Canterbury, as well as six community representatives.

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