Peninsula Missing from Transport Plan

By John Freer

Despite of the significant impact storms have had on Coromandel Peninsula roads they do not feature in the National Party’s 10-year Transport Policy announced this week.

When released it was obvious to locals that the words Coromandel Peninsula were missing from the National Transport Policy. This after the disastrous impact the weather impacted roads have had on the region, its residents and its businesses this year.

In the release document, National stated it will rebuild regions affected by this year’s weather events – including the Hawke’s Bay Expressway, a Brynderwyn Hills bypass in Northland, and upgrading the Napier to Taūpo and Napier to Gisborne roads.

The release went on to announce we will also upgrade transport infrastructure in Ashburton, Queenstown, Otago, and Southland to deliver a better roading network for the South Island.

There was no reference to the storm ravaged Coromandel Peninsula.

Coromandel Member of Parliament, Scott Simpson, has defended this saying the Opposition’s Transport Shadow Minister, Simeon Brown, will be making further policy statements in coming weeks.

While Scott said he could not pre-empt the announcements, he said they would include information regarding roading outside of the national roads of significance strategy – being the likes of Coromandel Peninsula.

Open the link below to hear our CFM interview with Scott Simpson.