Henderson-Massey Local Board Plan feedback

Introduction:

The Henderson-Massey Local Board Plan is a three-year plan outlining the key initiatives the board wants to focus on to help communities thrive and support the recovery from the impacts of COVID-19.

They we need our help to check if they’ve got it right. The link below will take you to all the details about the plan.

The board is now seeking your feedback about the plan. Closes Thursday 13th August

Our submission:

We have submitted feedback on behalf of Bike Te Atatū. We concentrated on Outcome five: It’s easy to get around Henderson-Massey safely without using a car. Here’s a summary of what we said.

We supported the plan in principle, but added some extra information. Under question 4 “Is there anything else you think would help our community and local businesses recover?” we said:

Revitalising our town centres is a way to help local communities and businesses recover from the economic downturn caused by Covid 19. Making them more attractive to walk and cycle to, and linger in, will increase spending at local businesses. Studies from Portland, London and Auckland show that cyclists and walkers spend more at local businesses than people in vehicles. Therefore we encourage the board to:

• Implement the Te Atatū South town centre plan.
• Investigate a Te Atatū Peninsula Town Centre plan, focused on making it more attractive and easier for people to visit local businesses on foot or by bike.

Under question 5 – “Do you have any other feedback on our proposed Local Board Plan?” – we asked the board to:

• Specifically reference Auckland Council’s recently adopted Te Tāruke-ā-Tāwhiri Auckland Climate Plan.
• Advocate strongly for Auckland Transport and Auckland Council to prioritise improvements to our streets, starting with low-cost “tactical urbanism” projects. In order to achieve a step-change in numbers riding requires going beyond an upgrade of one or two priority routes considered by “Henderson’s Future” cycling investigation.
• Use Auckland Transport’s Local Board Transport Capital Fund allocation specifically for improvements that make it easier for people to make local trips on foot or bike.
• Put the needs of walking and cycling first, when making improvements/upgrades to Council parks, libraries and community centres. This can be as simple as providing plenty of visible bike parking. This should also extend to events supported by the local board. Public transport and cycling directions first, then car parking locations with a lower-priority.
• Support funding and advocating for Te Whau Pathway.
• Support funding for the bike hub in Henderson, and explore the possibility of having a pump track permanently on this site.
• Work with Auckland Transport to maximise improvements to footpaths and shared paths, especially linking up existing gaps in the network.
• Support improved wayfinding.

We would still encourage individuals to submit their own feedback using the link above.