Further to my article last month (Strong cycleway support in Annual Plan submissions), here’s a more formal analysis of submissions on the Wheels to Wings cycleway contained in feedback on the Council’s draft Annual Plan, as provided by the Council’s Monitoring & Research unit.
In total 816 submissions were received on the Annual Plan, and 304 of these give feedback on the proposal “not to begin construction on the Wheels to Wings cycleway for 12 months”. 236 submissions oppose a delay, while just 27 submissions support.
The full thematic analysis can be found in Attachment E to the agenda for the 27 June 2023 Council Annual Plan meeting (agenda link: html; pdf).
I note that the phrasing in the report (“not to begin construction for 12 months”) varies from the wording of the motion passed by Council earlier this year (see amendment 4 in these minutes), where the Council voted 11 to 6:
“that the Council will not commence construction of the Wheels to Wings Route (Sections 1, 2 and 3 – project ID 26611, 26612 and 26613) for a period of up to 12 months to allow staff and local Councillors to work further with the affected communities on previously identified design concerns as part of the detailed design process.”
the wording of the ‘Wheels to Wings’ amendment to the Annual Plan, passed by Council on 28 February 2023
So the Council has in fact resolved not to commence construction for up to 12 months, which is a little different to not beginning for 12 months. I see that Cr Templeton has a proposed amendment included in the agenda for the upcoming Annual Plan decision meeting (see the agenda links above) to clarify this – a note to clarify that as per the 28 February resolution “…staff can commence construction on the Wheels to Wings MCR as soon as staff and local Councillors have completed further work with the affected communities on previously identified design concerns as part of the detailed design process.“. It will be interesting to see how Councillors vote on this.
But wait, there’s more: a full page of analysis on the Wheels to Wings feedback can be found in the report – you can find it at the links above, or see the image below:
Simon Britten 