Action to Protect and Sustain Our Communities (APSOC)
Kāpiti community sustainability group APSOC has expressed deep disappointment with the decision of the board of inquiry into the Kāpiti Expressway.
“This is evidence-based evaluation at its worst. The board appears to have cherry-picked the evidence which supports the project while ignoring other expert evidence.
We are astonished that the board has wholeheartedly accepted the evidence of the applicant in a number of areas such as air quality, noise, vibration and social effects, when it is apparent that it contains a number of serious methodological flaws.
We are left wondering if the decision was always a foregone conclusion. Substantive evidence questioning the viability of the project has been ignored.
The group also considers that both NZTA and the Kāpiti Chamber of Commerce are misleading the public, both in terms of support for the project and its benefits. There is no evidence this road will reduce congestion and improve economic growth. In fact, technical evidence and economic analysis suggests the reverse will occur.
In addition, the majority of submissions to the board of inquiry opposed the project.
Support for the road was bolstered by an email campaign, essentially a ‘tick the box’ exercise which did not demonstrate any real understanding of the issues. Clearly the board has overlooked the quality of submissions received.
The transport agency’s claim that construction would begin in July is the stuff that dreams are made of. Apart from the matter of a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi and proposed high court action on the part of Maori trust landowners, APSOC will be giving serious consideration to an appeal. If the agency believes it can sit in its plush offices and impose this environmental degradation on the community, it is deluded. The name itself says it all in the way this has been framed; “Mackays to Peka Peka” its as if there is nobody living between these two points. We want to assure the agency that we are still here.
