Horowhenua District Council is calling for public feedback as it prepares a Horowhenua Integrated Transport Strategy.

The strategy will recognise changing travel demands and address transport challenges over the next 30 years relating to existing and foreseeable problems, and their exacerbation, due to a range of factors including growth, demography, technology, climate change, peak oil, employment patterns and the wider economy.

Development of the Horowhenua Integrated Transport Strategy will be undertaken alongside the NZ Transport Agency‘s work on the Otaki to North of Levin project and is expected to inform planning work for the expressway. NZTA will continue to provide updates to stakeholders and the community on the expressway project, and council will continue to collaborate with NZTA on critical elements of the project that are important for the district and community.

Council growth response manager Daniel Haigh said the aim is to develop an integrated, multi-modal transport strategy for the district to provide an overarching strategic vision and principles to guide and inform infrastructure planning, investment and delivery over the next 30 years.

“We need help from the public to create a safe, responsive, resilient and sustainable transport system that is affordable and integrated with the national and regional context for rail and state highways.”

Council principal policy advisor Cynthia Ward said 10 strategic focus areas have been identified: safety, public transport, cycling, walking, influencing travel choice, freight, Levin town centre, resilience, network management and integrated land use planning.

“Now we need to hear from the public, iwi and stakeholders about their thoughts. To help, we‘ve created a survey that covers off parking, safety, public transport, cycling, walking and much more.”

Haigh said the council had already started engagement with residents of Manakau, and will be engaging soon with communities in Ohau and east of Levin, as they will be directly affected by the expressway.

“We also started the conversation through the 2019/2020 Annual Plan process. We‘ll begin some of the focus area work straight away – in particular work associated with O2NL. This is so we can have an opportunity to influence the NZTA business case for the expressway.”

Anyone interested in taking part in a focus group is asked to contact Cynthia Ward by emailing growth@horowhenua.govt.nz.

Feedback on the strategy is open by taking part in an online survey available on council‘s Facebook page and the Have Your Say page on the council‘s website. The engagement period closes 10 May 2019 at 4pm.