The Rodney Local Board has made submissions asking central government to bring back road sealing subsidies that were stopped in 2009.

The Rodney ward has the largest number of unsealed roads in the Auckland region, with over 600kms of metal roads.

Board chair Beth Houlbrooke welcomes the proposed increase in road sealing budget in Auckland Council’s 10-Year Budget.

“We’re glad that both Auckland Transport and Council have listened to the Board’s pleas for extra and ongoing road sealing budget, but sadly this doesn’t go far enough,” she says.

Houlbrooke says that Auckland Transport receives substantial subsides from central government for a range of transport projects from roads to public transport. She says this forces Auckland Transport to prioritise projects where they will get the greatest government subsidy, with road sealing at the bottom of the list.

“It is manifestly unfair that in New Zealand’s biggest region, central government has withheld subsidies for sealing a huge network of roads. Our unsealed roads are not only unsafe but are increasingly costly to maintain given our fast-growing population and ever increasing visitor numbers using them.

“With the imminent introduction of additional fuel taxes we think it’s time for central government to put that money back into Rodney in the form of road sealing subsidies,” she says.

The chair of the Rodney Local Board says a 50c in the dollar subsidy would effectively double the amount of money Auckland Transport is proposing to spend on road sealing in Rodney.

“This would make a huge difference to the long-suffering residents living on unsealed roads,” says Beth Houlbrooke

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