Board left in dark over funds for top-priority project

From page 1 have been spent in the period in which it was allocated, he said.

Member George Wood likened the the board to a prospective homeowner who gave a down payment to a builder who later decided not to do the job. AT’s stance was “a big personal loss to us and all the people we represent”.

AT had asked board members to rank a long list of other local projects for the board’s next three-year allocation, which totals $1.5 million.

Van Tonder then pushed for clarification over the Francis St-Esmonde Rd funds, seeking to find out if the board still had that money.

“We’re getting cornered into choosing some of the smaller projects”, she said. “Do we have the $2.5 million or $1.5 million?”

The board had signalled months ago that it wanted the walkway money rolled over, she said.

It was not getting the chance to come up with a true priority list due to not knowing where it stood and what money it had.

AT’s elected-member relationship manager Marilyn Nicholls told the board it could ask AT for deferral. But on being pushed by deputy chair Terence Harpur for the process to do this, AT’s representatives at the workshop did not offer clear advice.

Harpur said the board had been prudent with the walkway money, not wanting to spend the $1 million on more planning until funds to actually build it were available from AT.

Wood said the walkway had been discussed for five or six years. “It’s become apparent you guys are not going to play ball and put the money into it.”

The walkway project has been promoted by two successive boards and was seen as a way of connecting communities and extending peninsula ‘Green Way’ links.

Ultimately, it was envisaged to be part of a cycle network that would connect the peninsula, via Esmonde Rd to the Northern Pathway.

The developers of the Amaia apartment complex on Esmonde Rd initially promised to build a connection from their site to the walkway, but with uncertainty over funding for the pathway and a hearings-panel decision pending on apartment expansion plans, the green vision they promoted in marketing is also in doubt.

The board workshop wound up after only preliminary discussion of the other projects proposed, with AT advised the board did not consider itself in a position to rank them without getting a clear answer on the walkway funds.

AT also told members budget cuts meant it was no longer in a financial position to provide local boards with full feasibility studies on their candidate projects.

Costings were indicative, but once a shortlist was drawn up by the board, full investigations would be done.

“It’s difficult when we don’t have full advice and guidance to make good decisions,” van Tonder said.

Members considered several of the projects proposed for local-board funding should have been AT’s responsibility to fund from other budgets. These included safety work on East Coast Rd and Forrest Hill Rd, both main routes.

Other projects to be looked at include a crossing on Albert Rd, Devonport; speed-calming measures on Hamana St, Narrow Neck; and more paver upgrades on Victoria Rd.

A wider-than-standard raised crossing from the car park to the café at Narrow Neck was put forward to be added to the list of possible measures.