More roads to airports, and developing or keeping marginal airports open through ratepayer or taxpayer subsidies, cannot be part of our net zero emissions future.
Roads, airports, pipes, tunnels, cables, public transport – on all sides it appears that decades of underinvestment in public assets has created an urgent need for a huge infrastructure overhaul. Large projects shape our cities and influence our ways of living for generations to come. They don’t only respond to current and forecast demand, they create it. Wellington today is still recognisably the Wellington created by housing and transport decisions made 70 years ago.
But climate change means that the previous development track, of endless growth of motorways and airports, may no longer be viable. All large investments need to be compatible with a rapid phase-out of the burning of fossil fuels. How could this play out in the Wellington region?
Let’s Get Wellington Moving is a joint venture between NZ Transport Agency, Wellington City Council, and Greater Wellington Regional Council, and is tasked with easing traffic congestion between Wellington Airport and Ngauranga Gorge. It involves several new tunnels, new road and state highway lanes and flyovers, and mass transit to the airport. These are very expensive projects.
Behind much of the planning has been assumptions of increased traffic volumes due to the growth of the Kāpiti Coast and the opening of Transmission Gully as well as projections of Wellington Airport passenger numbers doubling by 2040. Wellington Airport, one-third owned by the council, is pressing ahead with a request to rezone land for airport expansion.
But under the Resource Management Act, projects are responsible for the effects of their activities. Increased emissions are a reliably predictable effect of a new motorway or an airport expansion. This hasn’t been tested in consent applications yet, for the exclusions prohibiting consideration of the effects of greenhouse gases were only removed in July 2020.
The Resource Management Act also takes the cumulative effects of proposed activities into account. This is important, because otherwise an industry could break an activity down into lots of small pieces, each separately too small to make much difference. Climate change is the ultimate cumulative effect.
Further to the north, the low-use, uneconomic Kāpiti Airport has been in the news. After providing some ratepayer support to prop up the airport, the local mayor has called on the Prime Minister to also provide taxpayer subsidies. The history of the airport is complex, with the land being taken from its Māori owners in 1939 through the Public Works Act and subsequently sold to private owners in 1995. Hence calls for the land to be returned to its original owners.
But whoever is the landowner, in both a climate and housing emergency a much better use of the land would be to convert it to medium- to high-density housing. This would provide accommodation close to public transport and civic amenities rather than encouraging further strip development up the coast with its associated increase in transport emissions.
All of these decisions must be examined in light of climate goals and the overall plan for the region. In fact, the 150 km stretch from Wellington to Palmerston North isn’t really suitable for sprawl.
Without an airport, Kāpiti residents would have to travel to Wellington or Palmerston North airports, 68 km and 88 km respectively from Waikanae. In fact, many do so already if they wish to fly to other destinations than Auckland, Nelson or Blenheim or to access cheaper fares than those offered by Air Chathams or Sounds Air.
Moving north again, Levin is planning a 4,500-house development which would be divided from the existing city by the as-yet unconsented Ōtaki-to-North-Levin expressway. There are plenty of examples in the past of existing communities being destroyed and inequality exacerbated by motorway projects, but intentionally dividing a new community by a non-existent expressway would surely be something new in the annals of planning. Many of the new residents will be wanting to commute 94 km to Wellington or 50 km to Palmerston North.
All of these decisions must be examined in light of climate goals and the overall plan for the region. In fact, the 150 km stretch from Wellington to Palmerston North isn’t really suitable for sprawl. But as a long, thin strip, population 650,000, with fairly sparsely placed towns in the northern section, it is at least well suited for rail. Holding on to and improving regional passenger rail, in light of subsidised competition from motorways, will be essential.
There are signs that all these issues are starting to come into focus. Rail has received a rescue package and more reliable funding. In 2021 the Zero Carbon Act will be put through its paces. The Ministry of Transport is preparing a new Civil Aviation Bill, specifically to address the question of land use at airports. The RMA will be replaced by, amongst other things, a Strategic Planning Act to require regional spatial planning throughout the country.
Airport planning, including transport to and from the airports, also needs to have emission reductions as a key driver. Some conflict is inevitable: for example, the chief executive of Christchurch Airport, owned by the Christchurch City Council and the New Zealand Government, has stated that emissions of aeroplanes using the proposed new international airport at Tarras are not the airport’s responsibility.
More roads to airports, and developing or keeping marginal airports open through ratepayer or taxpayer subsidies, cannot be part of our net zero emissions future.
