Wood Street works on back-burner

The long-running saga of upgrading Wood Street in Mangawhai is not over yet, with final construction now shunted back for another year at least.

Kaipara District Council (KDC) had been planning to finalise its Wood Street revitalisation project in 2023/24, as well as upgrading the stormwater network in the area at the same time.

However, as a result of recent floods and extreme weather events, emergency works are being prioritised over planned projects by council.

General manager for infrastructure services

Anin Nama said delaying both projects could actually be a good thing for the Heads, since with both projects happening simultaneously, some inconvenience would be inevitable.

“We know businesses have had a tough time recently. Some of our conversations with businesses suggest that deferring construction for another year may give everyone a little more breathing space while Mangawhai Central settles in,” he said. KDC project manager Tim Manning said he wanted to stay in touch with local businesses and the wider community despite the latest construction delay.

“We want to spend this extra time between now and mid-next year finalising a work schedule that gets both projects completed with the least impact for the businesses in the area,” he said. “We’ll be working closely with the Mangawhai Business Association and local businesses.

The long-running project has been going on since 2019, with numerous new layouts, designs and installations tried out in a bid to ease congestion and improve pedestrian safety. The biggest changes have been making Wood Street one-way and the introduction of new parking and traffic calming measures, some of which have not always proved popular with local residents and drivers.