My Account
Leave weir alone
It was with horror that I read in your latest paper that our town weir may be removed to make way for whitebait to pass (MM Jan 16). This historic weir is well over 100 years old and was built by the owners of Wilson Cement to get a supply of water further downstream to their cement plant. As the cement works is a designated Historic Reserve and the weir was built as part of the project, it too must be considered to be part of the complete works. Warkworth residents are never consulted by the Council on these matters and they are inclined to ride roughshod over our opinions. The weir is very much a feature of our town and a very picturesque spot right in the middle of Warkworth. People are very fascinated by flowing water. I trust, along with many other residents, that the decision can be reversed.
Allan Dray, Warkworth
Hill Street solution
I have just spent another beautifully fine weekend trapped at my home in Warkworth, unable to go to our fantastic local beaches knowing that it is going to take me anywhere up to two hours to get home, due to the afternoon traffic congestion at the Hill Street intersection. After taking the time to watch traffic flows, it appears the main problem at the Hill Street intersection arises when more than two or three vehicles, from both Matakana Road and Sandspit Road, want to travel north on SH1 or up Hill Street, effectively stopping the majority of traffic that wants to travel south to Auckland. With traffic volumes in the Warkworth township usually very light on weekend afternoons, I feel the traffic congestion on the Matakana and Sandspit roads could be greatly alleviated by implementing the following weekend afternoon traffic detours:
1. Make it mandatory for all Sandspit Road traffic, including Hill Street and northbound traffic, to detour through Warkworth township and join SH1 at the Whitaker Road or McKinney Road intersections.
2. Make it mandatory for all traffic from Matakana wanting to travel north or to Hill Street to similarly detour through Warkworth and access SH1 at the Whitaker Road intersection.
3. Make it mandatory for all Warkworth northbound traffic, including Hill Street, Matakana and Sandspit traffic, to exit the township via Whitaker Road intersection during these periods.
These detour instructions could be easily implemented with three strategically placed electronic signs – one on Elizabeth Street and the others on Matakana and Sandspit Roads, prior to the intersection. While not totally solving the overall problem, they would certainly improve traffic flows at these busiest times, until such time as the long-awaited bypass is finally completed.
Peter Botherway, Warkworth
Silly Supercity
In reading your wonderful paper I came across the article “Views sought on Hill St fix” (MM November 28). This latest review talks about “Option A”, which will entail an oval-shaped roundabout that might fix Hill Street. Is this not the very same oval roundabout that was discussed and drawings of such were published in all our local papers some two to three years ago? One that was to take all the land where the Kowhai Park car park is sited? My question now is why did this Supercity Council go ahead and rebuild this very same car park some 12 months ago with new toilets and a footbridge (to nowhere) with no local consultation, spending $1.2 million of our money on this project, when they knew there was a very good chance that this carpark, toilet and bridge could one day all be demolished to fix Hill Street? This would be another prime example of Auckland Council wasting our money. Is it any wonder we all want to break away from the Supercity? If North Rodney was under our control, we could control this sort of spending and seal all our roads, instead of someone else wasting our money. We should be like the French and tell them all – Council and Government – to let us decide where and how our money is best spent. It can be done, as other small councils in New Zealand are proving. Is it any wonder 90 per cent want to break away from the Supercity?
M Purdy, Warkworth
Rodney Local Board chair Beth Houlbrooke responds: The Kowhai Park renewal project was undertaken by the Rodney Local Board in 2017 and as such fell under local decision making on design and budget, with the potential future redesign of the Hill Street intersection at top-of-mind all that time. None of the redesign options put forward for public consultation by NZTA’s engineering consultants will impact on the park in any substantive way. I would suggest sceptics go and explore the park for themselves to appreciate the wonderful amenity this provides to our township, with nature walking tracks, which loop around the Northwood development and will soon link to the showgrounds with the addition of a suspension bridge.
