Transportation coming back in-house
Published on 22 June 2024
A new delivery model for transportation / roading services across Northland has been confirmed following decisions made by Far North, Kaipara, Whangarei District and Northland Regional councils.
This will see the three district councils take greater control of their own roading maintenance and construction, and continue to collaborate where that makes financial and practical sense.
“Every six years, the Local Government Act requires councils to review how our transport activities are delivered. It’s called a Section 17a Review, and it makes sure we are constantly looking at what’s happening in the industry, how we are meeting these challenges and whether we need to change things,” says Vince Cocurullo, Chair of the Northland Mayoral Forum.
“This year’s review has come after the most challenging period for transportation networks. The COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues, huge increases in constructions costs followed by damaging storms throughout 2023 have all occurred since the forming of the Northland Transport Alliance (NTA) eight years ago.
“The NTA’s creation in 2016 contributed towards the transformation of Otaika Valley Road / Mangakahia Road into State Highway 15 and allowed for a closer working relationship between all four councils and NZTA. Since then, the region’s teams have been working together, relationship building, developing systems, and sharing our organisations’ diverse challenges. I believe those relationships are invaluable and will remain a great asset to the region.
“The Section 17a Review gave us a chance to look at the big picture and decide as a region what, if anything, needed to change.
“When the review was complete the result came back to each council to consider four options. From forming a Council Controlled Organisation, which all councils would be a member of, or reverting to our earlier system where each council manages its own transportation needs, or retaining the NTA and making some targeted changes, or opting for a mix of those options.
“All four councils are committed to working together for the betterment of Northland, and making sure that Northland gets its fair share of funding. We have opted for the mixed model to get the best out of all options. This model allowed us to work together with shared services, along with providing answers to and direction from the individual councils, and enhancing the link between the public, councils and contractors.
Northland Regional Councillor Joe Carr, Chair of the Regional Land Transport Committee, said he believed the NTA was the right initiative in 2016, and since then times had moved on, the world had evolved, and our councils needed to have better connections with the work taking place within each district.
“Ultimately, we all still have roads and networks to repair, maintain and develop, and we know we still have the skilled people we need to make that happen, along with still having that regional voice to advocate to Central Government when needed.”