Is the tail still wagging the dog? – Hutt Road Transport Changes

Onslow Residents are up in arms about poor community engagement practices once again by both Council and Councillors.

Diane Calvert, from the Khandallah Residents Group spoke at the Transport and Urban Development Meeting today expressing outrage and disappointment around poor community engagement in the Onslow Suburbs in respect of the Hutt Cycleway. The group were concerned that that the consultation titled “The ‘Hutt road cycleway and Roading Improvements’ was not a transparent representation of the content of the proposal. Calvert suggested to the meeting that if the consultation had been headed ‘Removing one lane on Hutt Road SH2’ it would have encouraged more broader community interest sooner.

“Our residents group have had to go out and let locals know what was happening including residents, the local business district, community centre and cycle group. We’re not that surprised Council officers didn’t include these groups in their engagement plan but at least we thought our local Ward councillors Foster, Coughlan and Woolf would have been much more active in this area. Foster is the chair of the committee and has been on the Council for nearly 30 years with Coughlan on for 9 years. The only contact we have had on this matter was an urgent request earlier this week from Coughlan and Woolf to meet with us that evening (after we had already initiated action). We have had no follow up since.” It seemed to the Residents group that this matter was now only being picked up as part of a Mayoral campaign.

Calvert reminded the meeting that Council had recently admitted it had not engaged effectively with communities on medium density housing proposals and has had to start the process all over again. “The CE also acknowledged earlier this year that the community had raised legitimate concerns around council engagement processes -So why do we continue with poor community engagement –as a ratepayer, I am very angry about how our hard-earned money is being totally wasted.”

So is the Dog wagging the tail or is the tail wagging the Dog? Are the Mayor and Councillors owning this or are the Council Officers circumventing good engagement to get their ideological ideas through at the expense of ratepayers and people who want sensible and safe travel options? The Mayor and Councillors can’t have it both ways. They need to stand up and admit responsibility or do what is expected, which is hold the Council Officers to account for fair and effective processes and solutions.

Calvert said the Hutt Road proposal was a classic example of biased communication prepared by Council and was nothing short of blatant PR material and a classic example of The Emperor’s new Clothes. The cycleway solution is just ‘putting lipstick on a pig’ .

“What we want is for you (Mayor and Councillors) to represent your communities that you were elected to represent.

And we want you (Mayor and Councillors) to hold Council Officers to account for actually delivering what they are very well paid to do- implement affordable and effective solutions.”

So who is wagging the tail?

ENDS

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