Auckland City Centre Residents' Group

Here we will be placing CCRG's recent submissions  to various governance groups and authorities.

Princes St, Eden Cr, Shortland St intersection Improvements - AUCKLAND Transport

Here is one of many intersections that are perilous for pedestrians,  where vehicles speed, and have priority. Meanwhile  visibility and amenity for anyone else is minimal, and you certainly need to be agile. Pedestrian flows are also very high.

A perfect opportunity then for some serious City Centre Masterplan vision and pedestrian priority, we thought, when we saw the proposal's title.

Unfortunately not - ' minor' improvements, indeed. But nothing meaningful in our view, and certainly no speed reductions, or pedestrian priority.

Here is our submission on what we thought of AT's  PROPOSAL, and an alternative plan.

MIDTOWN BUS ROUTE  
Our submission on Auckland Transport's  options for a cross town bus service, was about supporting a practical outcome, but moreover, also upheld and supported the City Centre Masterplan - both its vision and its implementation, as a core and agreed plan for the City Centre. We do not accept an outcome that would jeopardise the Victoria street linear park.

Click the image above, or HERE for our submission.

CCRG Submission on  the 2013 Public Safety & Nuisance Bylaw

This bylaw  covers the Auckland Council rules that try to address issues relating to public safety and nuisance, and inappropriate behaviour in public places. Have a look at the full list of items considered safety or nuisance items HERE (clearly many are hard to relate to the City Centre).

Most city centre residents will have their favourite concern (s) about these. A key issue for CCRG is around enforcement of these bylaws. Are they being enforced? Does Council have the necessary resources and sufficient legislative authority?
CCRG's submission is HERE

WAITEMATĀ LOCAL BOARD 2017 ANNUAL PLAN
We focussed on 3 broad fronts that connect into the various projects funded via the city centre residential targeted rate & the Board’s Annual Plan programme.
1. Public Transport - Public transport must have priority over private transport for all transport related projects in, and around, the city centre.
2. Public Spaces - Great public spaces are the identifier of cities – these are the places we all enjoy, remember, photograph, play and relax in irrespective of which city we find them.
3. Public Safety - Residents in the world’s most liveable city are entitled to a clean, safe and healthy environment.

Click the image above or HERE for our submission.

Submission on the Roads & Streets Framework (RASF) and the Transport Design Manual (TDM), June 2017

This document  and framework presents  quite a remarkable shift in thinking about how our streets are designed, and who they are designed for. It considers 'Place' as an important and primary part of designing our streets, along with movement - so the speed and flow of traffic is no longer automatically given primacy - a major change to 60+ years of traffic engineering focused on the speed and flow of cars.  It provides, through the  Transport Design Manual consistent design and technical guidance, to deliver the vision.
It should transform conditions for walking, cycling and public transport, especially in high-density people-centric areas like Auckland city centre.

CCRG provided a short, but succinct submission, fully supporting this framework, but reiterating its view that this definition of 'place' and 'movement' is properly set by the council's Governing Body, and that the other Council Controlled Organisations, such as Auckland Transport, play a significant role in supporting that leadership.

You can see the Framework powerpoint presentation to Council's PLanning Committee (June 20177) in pdf form HERE