New Plymouth council wrestles with multi-million dollar transport shortfall

Te Ara o Te Ata - Mt Messenger Bypass earthworks. Photo: Waka Kotahi/NZTA

The threat of ageing concrete streetlights falling onto passersbys and the risk of "sweating" assets such as bridges has been raised as the New Plymouth council wrestles with a multi-million dollar shortfall in New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) funding.

The district council budgeted for an NZTA contribution to its transportation budget of $113 million when it signed off its long-term plan (LTP) in May.

But Waka Kotahi has stumped up just $86.42m in its National Land Transport Programme (NTLP), leaving the council $27m short.

Its Strategy and Operations Committee met on Tuesday to consider how to fund or reprioritise the replacement of cracking concrete streelights and ageing bridges in the city - some of them more than 100-years-old - among other promised projects such as a second bridge across the Waiwhakaiho River.

Mayor Neil Holdom did not hold back in his criticism.

"I suppose this is a classic case of meet the new boss, same as the old boss. For six years now, central government has refused to adequately fund the roading network."

Holdom said people only had to look at the state highway network to know the government was a terrible asset manager.

"There's no money to do strategy. It's a budget based on potholes and very little else and really it doesn't allow us to do a good job as a prudent asset manager unless we put people's rates up."

Pothole repair was the one area where NPDC received a bigger funding allocation than requested.

A council officer's report said councillors would have to consider increasing its level of funding to meet the shortfall, maintain its funding and reprioritise what projects went ahead, or decrease funding and axe some jobs.

The report said council could debt fund the shortfall as it had in the previous LTP period, but warned that came with a downside.

"While this is an option in the present case, there is a risk that debt funding the NLTP 2024-27 shortfall may set a precedent for NZTA that New Plymouth district can and will look after itself and could result in a continuation of deficient funding under future NLTPs."

The report warned tough choices lay ahead.

"For example, bridges are ageing infrastructure and we need to prioritise what gets 'sweated' and what gets renewed," the report said.

"This includes interdependencies with other programmes and aspirations such as the Puketapu Growth Area and the need for an additional bridge across the Waiwhakaiho River."

New Plymouth mayor Neil Holdom. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin

The report provided case studies outlining the implication of decreased funding.

Street light replacements was one.

The report said NZTA approved $2.1m for 2024-27 traffic service renewals which did not allow for the replacement of additional concrete street light poles, just reactive renewals.

Council had just under 1100 concrete/spun light poles that needed replacing.

The report said the NZTA budget did not allow for it to accelerate its programme to replace these.

"These poles are starting to crack and there is a risk that they could fall on members of the public or their assets. Deterioration of streetlight columns is increased in New Plymouth due to the coastal environment impacting corrosion rates."

Bridges were another case study.

"The council has an ageing bridge stock, which poses a significant risk. Bridges generally have a useful life of 100 years, and the council has 23 bridges older than this," the report said.

"While good maintenance can extend their useful lives, it requires appropriate budgeting. The budget in the LTP of $2,648,439 would allow us to have three roaming crews maintaining our bridges, retaining walls and large diameter culverts. The NZTA allocation of $2,026,515 would mean we need to reduce this to two crews."

To align with depreciation, the council should invest at least $4.5m every three years in bridge renewals, the report said.

In a letter outlining its position, the Transport Agency said it had allocated $808m for 2024-27 period for all of Taranaki.

"To create a safer and more efficient land transport system that supports economic growth and prosperity."

The $808m captured all of Taranaki including state highways, with a large share being spent on the much delayed Mt Messenger Bypass on State Highway 3.

The council officer's report said at a subsequent meeting NZTA advised "it approved as much as it could afford for New Plymouth's transport network under the NLTP 2024-27" and the city's "allocation was in line with councils of a similar size, e.g. Hastings".

Deputy mayor David Bublitz could see a silver lining in the funding shortfall.

"This could help drive efficiencies in the organisation, get teams working together and be less siloed as we look for savings."

A point councillor Max Brough echoed.

"With my taxpayer's hat on this is us being told to do things better."

Holdom said he would like to see the NLTP lined up with councils' LTP planning processes advocated for a three waters-style solution.

"And government should seriously look at economic regulation of the transport sector because if it is good enough for three waters we are seeing exactly the same thing in transport and why not use the same solution economic regulation to determine how much money is required to adequately maintain the assets otherwise they will crumble."

The strategy and operations committee noted the officer's report and it would now go out for consideration at community board level before returning to council on 17 December where councillors would make funding decisions.

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