Joy Svendsen Speaking Notes for M2PP Board of Inquiry 17 Jan 2013

INTRO

Good morning Sir and Commissioners, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. Thank you also commissioners for your attentiveness and genuine questions that you have been asking submitters. Thank you Sir for the fairness and patience you have shown to us ordinary folks as we have tried to express what is on our minds and what it is about this project that troubles us so much.

I would like to tell you some of my personal story and then cover some general objections to this proposal; PEOPLE, PROCESS, CONSTRUCTION, CONNECTIVITY, CULTURE & HISTORY, and TYPE OF ROAD.

PERSONAL STORY

My name is Joy Svendsen and I have lived on the for 27 years firstly at and now at Beach. During my 27 years of living here I have raised a family, worked locally, commuted to full time work in Wellington, run a business from home and currently work part time as a Research Assistant at Te Papa Museum. This means I have travelled extensively between Paekakariki, , Raumati Beach, Township, , , Waikanae, Waikanae Beach, , Otaki, Reikorangi, East Waikanae and East Paraparaumu. I have walked, run, bicycled, used local and Intercity buses, commuter trains, held an HT licence, owned a scooter and driven by car between all these destinations.

As I have made frequent trips to every single part of the Kapiti Coast thousands of times. I therefore consider myself an expert on travelling about the Kapiti Coast and in and out of the district. All this time I waited and hoped for a second bridge over the . So I am definitely an expert on wanting a second bridge over the Waikanae River and better ways to get from one place to another.

Over these 27 years I have transitioned from a young energetic mother of 3 to an older wiser, slower grandmother. In the course of that time I have gone from raising my children through to them qualifying at university, travelling overseas and returning to New Zealand. Then coming full circle back to settling to live on the Kapiti Coast because they too believe it is a great place to live and bring up my grandchildren.

I live at the southern end of Waikanae Beach within easy walking distance of the Takamore Heritage Precinct. My home is on a hill 800 metres back from the beach front. I enjoy views of the Tararua Ranges, Kapiti Island and out to sea all the way to Mt Taranaki. I have the privilege

1 | P a g e of being able to walk on the beach, around the river mouth, beside the estuary, around the lagoons and along the magnificently restored Waikanae River walks. I have all these seaside and rural activities as well as prolific bird life available within a kilometer of my home. I enjoy the peace and quiet where I live, a clear bright night sky, hearing the waves on the beach, fresh air and a happy friendly neighbourhood.

Prior to moving to the Kapiti Coast in 1986 I had been a restless person and moved frequently. Now I have met and come to know so many wonderful people here, the Kapiti Coast has happily become my permanent home. Mt Kapakapanui has become my mountain, the Waikanae River my river, Kapiti Island enthralls me, the Kapiti Coast owns my soul and the people of the Kapiti own my heart.

GENERAL OBJECTIONS: PEOPLE, PROCESS, CONSTRUCTION, CONNECTIVITY, CULTURE & HISTORY, and TYPE OF ROAD.

Every single point that I raised in my submission has been covered by other speakers cleverer and clearer than me. I 100% support the comments and evidence of every submitter who has opposed this motorway in full. I have either listened to their presentation or read their transcript. They have presented everything that is important to me and it is a true and accurate account of my thoughts, feelings and experience also. I have asked myself what I can possibly say today that has not been said before and will be helpful to you as a Board in making your decision. I will try therefore to just stick to a few points that I have not heard mentioned very thoroughly and a few that I cannot avoid repeating.

PEOPLE

I am now long past the point where a second bridge over the Waikanae River will make as much difference to my day to day travelling activities as it would have in the past. Therefore I have tried to look at the NZTA proposal objectively and ask myself is there any way it could be better for the people of Kapiti than our local Western Link Road?

My conclusion is that people must come first when considering economics, faster travel times and major changes to the local environment. Local communities should not be sacrificed for national interests but must be recognised as part of the overall economy and a vital part of an integrated plan. Exciting, fun, pleasant and enjoyable local roads, can be the major part of a balanced package of infrastructure improvements. Sustainable and multi-modal transportation measures will deliver improved productivity and economic efficiency. Faster travel, burning limited fossil fuels and rushing about on ugly roads don’t make for happy healthy people. The Minister for Transport needs to realise that focusing on a presumed economic benefit derived from major

2 | P a g e motorway investment, completely fails to take into account people. Focusing on people creates opportunities for economic activity occurring in local areas as part of the overall net benefit. Removing the burden of a potential $650 million plus debt from the shoulders of all New Zealanders and replacing it with the affordable local community focused sustainable transport option, will have far greater productivity benefits for all New Zealanders as well as immediate direct benefits for the 50,000 people who live on the Kapiti Coast.

PROCESS

The process has been mentioned a lot but there are several points I must reiterate. I am not here today to speaking about the Mackays to Pekapeka Expressway but I am here speaking about the Mackays to Pekapeka Motorway. Under NZTA’s definition of an Expressway and a Motorway this is clearly a Motorway, so that is how I will refer to it.

For me the confusing way this proposal has been presented to my community summarises why I am here today and why we are so heavily dependent on the wisdom of this Board to see this for what it really is. The process reveals a project which has never been called what it really is; (a Motorway) we have not been given a full description of the proposed work that demonstrates its true size and impact on our district. We have not received clear details nor have all aspects of the real and permanent effects and damage to our local environment been thoroughly and completely investigated. No alternatives particularly the local Western Link Road and improvements to SH1 and rail services were ever considered.

Discussion and public consultation centred on “choosing a route”. There is not clear evidence of the designation being reasonably necessary to meet the objectives of the requiring authority and it has never been proven or demonstrated to be needed in the first place.

For me the process started 18 years ago when the route previously known as the Sandhills Route was changed from the status of being for state highway purposes to a local road. “Transit determined that the alignment as a motorway was not the right thing to do. The alignment should be used for a local arterial road and the state highway should stay where it is.” this designation was formally lifted in 1999. This was of great interest to me as when I first

3 | P a g e moved to the Kapiti Coast and started to think where I would like to live, I wanted to know where the Sandhills Expressway designation was. At first we rented houses but when I eventually bought my current home at Waikanae Beach I did my due diligence and doubled checked the maps confirming the designation was for a proposed local Western Link Road and second bridge over the Waikanae River. At that time in 1999 I was convinced there would be a second bridge over the Waikanae River at least by the time my youngest child went to high school.

I attended my first of a multitude of public meetings relating to this process in 1997. So 59 years ago the Sandhills route was put in place and 18 years ago it was changed to local road status, this accurately reflected the changes and needs of our district. I take great exception to NZTA using the term Sandhills Expressway as part of the publicity and consultation for the current proposal. This expressway designation has not existed for 18 years and NZTA created confusion implying that a Sandhills expressway route was still there.

After 15 years of hard work, full community consultation and debate, much negotiation and thorough investigations and hundreds of thousands of ratepayer’s money, the route and design of the local road was agreed on and given the name Western Link Road. I had attended workshops, council meetings, written submissions and followed the news of progress of the new local road with great anticipation. I was excited about the soon to be started sustainable, green, exciting looking solution.

Therefore I also take great exception to the false and misleading use of the name “Western Link Road” by NZTA during the consultation phase for this proposal. What NZTA are really talking about is in actual fact a 4 lane Motorway with 10 fly overs, over bridges and interchanges.

The consultation was confusing in every way and should have been called confusation! Just like others I attended every possible expo and information session and was told different answers to the same questions and promised information that was never delivered. This proposal should be rejected for this reason alone and if it was ever proven that there was a valid need for something different than the local Western Link Road and improvements to SH1 then a proper honest and robust consultation should take place. Not a process full of misleading misinformation.

Unfortunately I deleted all my notes and copies of submissions relating to the local Western Link Road, after a 15 year wait I was happily expecting construction to start in April 2010. I have attached copies of other relevant submissions I made demonstrating that I have been an advocate of multi modal sustainable transport options for our district for a very long time. I have also included details of the improvements to SH1 which were proposed as part of the local Western Link Road package.

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CONSTRUCTION

The ways in which I personally would be affected by this motorway proposal are:

During construction: Noise, Vibration, Airborne dust and pollutants, potential poisoning from C02 gases released from peat, years of disruption and delays of daily travel movements, years of sharing my once safe local roads with large construction machinery and trucks moving peat and sand and bringing in fill. Night time sleep disturbance, winter time light pollution, emotional stress from having a situation forced upon me that was detrimental to my health and the previous lifestyle I had enjoyed.

I know the worst part will be the vibration. Since moving to Waikanae Beach 14 years ago I have lived through the entire nearby area surrounding my house being transformed from empty sections and the sand dunes of the Weggery estate to houses in every possible spot, over 100 new houses. When building on sand as the construction takes place and the pile drivers are at work it is like experiencing a mini earthquake that goes on for a day at a time. It has constantly amazed us how far the vibrations travel when building on sand and peat. We have had 10 years of family competitions to guess how far away a particular house is when we heard yet another lot of hammering in of stabilizing poles and felt the vibrations. Building such a large heavy structure as the four lane motorway that will involve the Waikanae River bridge, moving the national gas pipeline, removing, replacing and compacting enormous volumes of sand dunes and building an incredibly high full motorway interchange within a kilometre of my home will for us be more than 5 years of mini vibrating earthquakes at least 100 times worse than the impact of building a house.

After construction: I will continue to be affected by noise, air borne road pollution, vibration, light pollution, the impact on the local ecology, ground water, storm water, sediment control problems, pollutants discharged into the Waikanae River. The negative visual impacts on the landscape with a motorway interchange blocking my view of Kapiti Island as I travel down Te Moana road to my home.

Waikanae would become invisible and inaccessible to passing traffic. My local village will be under threat of longer‐term decline or reduced growth as a result of the loss of passing trade. Waikanae retailing may not be able to survive the increased competition from the shopping areas that are closer to the motorway. Jobs will be lost, small businesses will suffer financial loss and we will constantly be fighting the woes of a bypassed town. The proposed spend of $4.5million upgrading Mahara Gallery and $3million upgrading Waikanae Library could be under threat due to reduced visitor numbers. The investment in Kapiti Island of time and money by DOC over many years could also suffer reduced value and cause reduced tourist visitor numbers. Kapiti Island is an internationally unique predator free bird sanctuary which

5 | P a g e relies on the easy passage of native birds through a free flowing corridor from the Island to the Tararua ranges. The bird’s flight path would be seriously obstructed by the intrusion of the exceptionally high Te Moana interchange, Waikanae River Bridge and all the other raised interchanges and over bridges which are part of the proposal.

Fuel usage will increase for me, to make the short trip to Paraparaumu I will have to go via the Te Moana road interchange, speed up to drive up and onto the motorway and enter the truck and cyclists lane. Then accelerate to reach 100kph before decelerating to exit and travel extra distance on a congested Kapiti Road to get myself to the western side of the new motorway. All my local trips will be slowed by either the barrier of the Te Moana Road interchange or the 16km barrier running from one end of Kapiti to the other. Getting on and off the motorway to travel out of the district will be limited and more difficult involving negotiating increasingly congested local roads.

Te Moana Road is a pleasant tree lined avenue currently used by cyclists, horse riders, mobility scooters, walkers, runners, mothers with babies in push chairs, children, elderly, commuting and local trip vehicles. It is considered to be the most attractive major street in the Kapiti District and is currently the bench mark for our aspirations for other major routes. After construction less than a third of the current local trips will enter directly onto the Motorway at the Te Moana road interchange. However this once safe and relaxed road will become congested as a feeder road for the interchange with all the trucks and vehicles servicing the Waikanae supermarkets and businesses travelling up and down. Plus one would hope also the connecting Intercity buses, although it is possible the Waikanae stop for this service would be cancelled. Property values will drop dramatically on Te Moana Road and the footpaths will no longer be a pleasant place to walk.

My rates will rise as our local council will struggle to manage the cost of maintaining a poorly kept existing state highway which will continue to have heavy usage. Plus the additional cost of Kapiti Road, Te Moana Road, Park Avenue and multiple local roads which will become feeder roads for the four motorway interchanges. My local environment will be irretrievably degraded and future unwanted development around the Te Moana interchange will be a constant threat. The previously peaceful walk beside the Waikanae river will be degraded and cycle and walking tracks will be disjointed and often involve being beside an unpleasant polluting motorway.

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True mitigation could only be achieved by avoiding this proposal in its entirety. Anything less will just be pretending that people are important but in actual fact proving that they have not rated at the top of the priority scale as they should be.

CONNECTIVITY

When I assessed my most common trips for the last 25 years under the current road setup and compare them with the motorway proposal and a local linking Western Link Road. Journey times with the new proposed motorway will be considerably longer due to the east/west barrier effect and the difficulty of being fed onto congested feeder roads, with longer travel times and increased fuel use. The local Western Link Road with improved rail services and improvements to State Highway 1 gives opportunities for increased use of public transport, safe walking and cycling, new and shorter car travelling routes, big savings in travelling time and fuel costs plus a less stressful and far more enjoyable journey.

The railway line already divides the community in two, a motorway between the sea and the existing barrier would divide the community into three. Social cohesion and community spirit will be damaged by the severance and physical separation and the division created by a large continuous concrete barrier. The social impacts would include the isolation of communities and increased cost to household incomes as they rely on vehicle access to move across the barrier via the fewer connecting points.

The motorway will create unpleasant, unenjoyable urban form and design. Local connectivity and efficiency will be much worse, options for more East/West roads and all hope of improving connections in the future will be permanently blocked. The potential for integrating trains, buses and multi-modal sustainable transport with our main highway through road will be unachievable because of the separation created by the motorway and the existing Waikanae railway station and main Paraparaumu transport hub.

CULTURE & HISTORY

I recently told a German friend about the family reunion I was attending to celebrate my cousin’s family having farmed the same piece of land for 100 years. My friends reply was ”Oh I just got back from a family reunion in Germany to celebrate a pub belonging to our family for 400 years”. This reminded me once again what a young country we are and how important it is to treasure and protect what little bit of history and culture we have.

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The Takamore precinct area and the area around that part of Waikanae Beach is a precious remaining link to our early Waikanae settlers. The Greenaway’s Manor is adjacent to this area. I am related to Harry and William Field, who were two very influential European men in the early establishment of Waikanae during the 1870’s to 1990’s. They were fluent Maori speakers and good friends with Wi Parata and the local Maori. Harry occupied the Ferry Inn at the Waikanae River mouth and Willie lived in Ngarara Road. Willie started the first bank in Waikanae and the first residential subdivision at Waikanae Beach. They were both members of parliament at different times and advocated for all that was good for a growing Waikanae. The proposed $4.5 million spend at Mahara Gallery is to house the “Field Collection” a special and historic collection of artworks by Francis Hodgkin’s the sister of Willie Fields wife.

The registered Takamore wahi tapu is also the site of the Ngahuruhuru gardening area the Tuku Rakau Maori village, Maketu Tree and urupa. The spiritual and cultural values associated with the area for tāngata whenua hold major significance for them. The whole area contains the history of the extensive previous wider settlement. For Takamore Trustees and their families it is one of the few remaining physical areas expressing their history and cultural values over which they can still have some level of influence or ownership.

I stand by every one of the impassioned pleas opposing the motorway designation through this historical area, which we heard on the 26 November at the Whakarongatai Marae. I say once again “enough is enough”. We are treaty partners with Maori and on this one point alone the motorway proposal should be declined. As partners with them we cannot take any more of their land and we cannot even consider disturbing a site in any way at all which is sacred to them in every way.

TYPE OF ROAD

Twenty years ago my children used to play a computer game called Roller Coaster Tycoon. When I look at this motorway with its 10 interchanges, over bridges and bridge over the Waikanae River I can’t help but think the designer is stuck in the land of Roller Coaster Tycoon and 20 years out of date. The motorway goes up at Poplar Avenue, down and up at Raumati Road, down and up at Kāpiti Road, down and up at Mazengarb Road, down and up at Otaihanga Road, down and up over the Waikanae river, down through the national gas pipeline and Wahi Tapu area, down and up over Te Moana Road, underneath Ngarara Road and underneath Smithfield Road and up at Pekapeka Road. Plus over drains and streams, through sand dunes, peat, wetlands, swamp, old river beds and low lying coastal lands.

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My conclusion is this is the wrong type of road in the wrong place. It is too wide, too long, too expensive, too ugly, too damaging, too unnecessary, too divisive, too noisy, too unhealthy, too close to the coastline, destroys too many homes and ruins too many people’s lives.

NZTA has previously said in the 1990’s “they are committed to working with others to ensure integrated land use and transport planning helps deliver an affordable, multi-modal transport system that supports a growing economy, vibrant communities and a healthy environment, now and in the future”. That won’t happen with the proposed motorway and I believe it is time to dismantle this Roller Coaster road and proceed with the local Western Link Road to the standard KCDC committed to which is:

1. Two-Lane Western Link Road; To be started at the earliest possible stage to provide significant relief to State Highway 1 with maximum local connectivity to local roads and active transport modes, fully integrated with the surrounding centres and environment.

2. Investment in improving the Rail System; Support the efficiency of the road network through passenger and freight rail improvements. Subsidise the Capitol Connection and double track to Otaki.

3. Improvements to State Highway 1; Generally along the current alignment, addressing safety issues, including four-laning where needed, removing traffic lights, using median strips, reducing the number of entrances and exits onto the highway, using slip roads and looking at underpasses, grade-separated or left in left out intersections. Building an underpass at Te Moana Road immediately to gain beneficial improvements that would reduce peak congestion on the State Highway at a much earlier date.

Thank you for your time, please give these points your most serious consideration.

Joy Svendsen Documents attached for further reading (Larger files supplied on USB, smaller files printed)

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