Agenda of Regional Transport Committee

Regional Transport Committee item: 6.1

10 June 2025

TITLE:	Regional Land Transport Plan 2021/2027 - National Funding Assistance Uptake Report
From:	Chris Powell, Transport Manager - Northland Regional Council
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 29 May 2025

Whakarāpopototanga / Executive summary

This report covers subsidy claims submitted to the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi for the first financial year of the Regional Land Transport Plan Three Year Review that covers the 2024-2027 three-year funding period and details the funding assistance uptake by each Approved Road Controlling Authority for the financial period 1 July 2024 to 30 April 2025.

Ngā mahi tūtohutia / Recommendation

That the report ‘Regional Land Transport Plan 2021/2027 - National Funding Assistance Uptake Report’ by Chris Powell, Transport Manager - Northland Regional Council and dated 15 April 2025, be received.

Background/Tuhinga

Section 106 of the Land Transport Management Act 2003 stipulates that: -

(1) The functions of each regional transport committee (other than the regional transport committee for Auckland) are—

(a) to prepare a regional land transport plan, or any variation to the plan, for the approval of the relevant regional council; and

(b) to provide the regional council with any advice and assistance the regional council may request in relation to its transport responsibilities.

In addition to the above, one of the functions of the Regional Transport Committee (RTC) is to monitor the progress of the relevant Regional Land Transport Plan Three Year Review (RLTP).

This report provides the RTC with a quarterly update on the uplift of funding assistance applied for through the Northland Regional Land Transport Plan Three Year Review and approved in the National Land Transport Programme 2024-2027 (NLTP) for the Far North District Council, Whangarei District Council, Kaipara District Council, New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and the Northland Regional Council transport related works and projects. These are tabled at each Regional Transport Committee (RTC) meeting for consideration.

Please Note: - At the time of submitting this paper, no information had been provided by the Far North District Council.

It is important to note that to obtain all the information for the compilation of the attached funding sheets, the financial figures reflected in this report are a full month in arrears of the RTC meeting itself.

These reports and attached spreadsheets provide the RTC with information relating to how each Activity Class/Programme: -

· Is tracking regarding the uptake of the funding assistance approved through the National Land Transport Programme 2021-2027 - Three Year Review for the relevant financial year.

· Supports the five Regional Strategic Objectives reflected in the Regional Land Transport Plan 2021-2027 – Three Year Review.

· Supports the seven Regional Priorities included in the Regional Land Transport Plan 2021-2027 – Three Year Review.

It also details: -

· The probability of all the approved funding assistance being fully uplifted in the relevant financial year, and

· The reasons for any variations and action to be taken.

As this report updates the RTC on the national funding assistance (subsidies) uptake for those Activities/Programmes approved in the NLTP reflected, the Attachments do not include non-subsidised projects or work categories.

The base information contained in the attachments is sourced directly from the New Zealand Transport Agency’s Waka Kotahi ‘2024-2027 National Land Transport Programme for Northland.

Any questions regarding the information reflected in the spreadsheets can be directed to the relevant approved Road Controlling Authority.

Attachments/Ngā tapirihanga

Attachment 1: Funding Uptake Report ⇩

Regional Transport Committee item: 7.5

10 June 2025

TITLE:	Regional Road Safety Report
From:	Nicole Cauty, Road Safety Project Manager and Chris Powell, Transport Manager - Northland Regional Council
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 29 May 2025

Whakarāpopototanga / Executive summary

This Report updates the Regional Transport Committee on the progress made on the Northland Road to Zero program for local roads in Northland.

Ngā mahi tūtohutia / Recommendation

That the report ‘Regional Road Safety Report’ by, Nicole Cauty, Road Safety Project Manager and Nick Marshall, Transportation Strategy & Planning Lead, dated 28 May 2025, be received.

Background/ Tuhinga

The three district councils with NZTA have developed a comprehensive education and promotion programme to support, in conjunction with other road safety partners, the reduction of deaths and serious injuries on Northland roads.

Road Trauma Update

The fatal injuries data are broken down in the tables below. Compared to 2024 nationally there had been 114 fatal injuries and for Northland there had been 20 fatal injuries to date. There has been a good improvement for Northland in 2025 so far.

See below graph which breaks down the fatal and serious injuries from 2021 to 2025 year to date.

A graph showing injury and injury

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Calendar Year 2025 - 1 January – 31 December, Provisional Road Fatalities Statistics

Fatalities Jan – Dec 2025	Far North	Whangārei	Kaipara	Northland	National
Local roads	1	2	0	3	73
State highways	3	2	3	8	65
TOTAL	4	4	3	11	138

Breakdown of the 2025 Deaths year to date: 11 Deaths

Fatal injuries per month
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	April	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Fatal	2	2	2	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Fatal injuries by gender
Male	9
Female	2

Fatal injuries by role
Driver	7
Passenger	0
Motorcyclist	0
Cyclist	2
Pedestrian	2

Fatal injuries by age group
0 – 14 years	0
15 – 19 years	1
20 – 24 years	1
25 – 39 years	1
40 – 59 years	6
Over 60 years	2

Fatal injuries by speed corridors (Local Roads)		Fatal injuries by speed corridors (State Highways)
100 km/h	1	100 km/h	2
80 km/h	0	80 km/h	2
70 km/h	0	70 km/h	1
60 km/h	0	60 km/h	1
50 km/h	2	50 km/h	2
Total	3	Total	8

Annual Deaths and Serious Injuries 2024 Local Road Analysis – Completed by David Spoonley

Each year, an independent safety engineer David Spoonley does an analysis on crashes on local roads, this does not include any crashes that happen on Northland state highways. This is used to see how the region is tracking, identifies any emerging trends, and supports the road safety action planning team to assess what the target areas need to be.

The presentation below is presented to the road safety action planning team each year, and its promising to see there have been some improvements in the last year, particularly for the Far North District. There was a decrease of fatal injuries across the region, but unfortunately, there was an increase in serious injuries.

Road Safety Week

Road Safety Week was another hugely successful week that ran from 12^th to 18^th May – we use this week to raise awareness for road safety issues and celebrate heroes, but also to raise awareness of the programmes that are on offer for the region throughout the year. This year the team:

· Visited a school each day to acknowledge students and parents being safe around school drop off, was a great opportunity to discuss walking and cycling safely to school. The team visited Morningside Primary, St Francis Xavier, Onerahi Primary, Hora Hora Primary, Ahipara School, Kaitaia Primary, Kaitaia Intermediate, and Pukemiro School.

· Held three child restraint workshops with Plunket, Auckland Transport and NZ Police encouraging families to come get their car seats checked to ensure they are installed correctly, and for any child restraint advice. They were held in Bunnings carpark Ruamanga, Onerahi Police Station carpark and Otangarei Marae carpark.

o The team also visited two daycares for morning drop off to check seats – Educare Tikipunga and Educare Norfolk Street.

o The team checked/reinstalled a total 77 car seats and the error rate of seats installed incorrected was approximately 86%.

· Ran a design your own helmet competition run by Bike Northland. The winners of this are still to be decided.

· Held the first of this year’s series of Rider Down workshops – a safety and first responder workshop for motorcyclists. This course is designed specifically for motorcyclists who ride in groups and provides valuable safety advice not only about riding but also how to respond to a rider who has come off their bike. This initiative is supported by Hato Hone St John. The course had 20 attend and participants rated it incredibly highly and thanked Council for the opportunity to take part.

· Held the annual road safety walk/relay around the Town Basin loop on Friday the 16^th May which had approximately 200 – 300 people attend. Fulton Hogan took out fastest team and NZ Police Road Policing team took out best effort.

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A group of people wearing clothing

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Fatalities

Date	Time	Location	Notes
20/01/2025	5.00am	SH14, Tangiteroria	Single vehicle failed to navigate a left-hand bend and collided with a tree.
28/01/2025	10.20pm	Settlers Way, Okaihau	Cyclist has collided head on with a car.
06/02/2025	11.16am	Kaikanui Road, Helena Bay	Cyclist travelling around a downhill bend has collided with a ute travelling uphill.
19/02/2025	10.40pm	SH10, Kaingaroa	Single vehicle failed to take a right-hand bend collided with a tree and rolled down a bank. Driver ejected.
07/03/2025	9.40pm	SH10, Waipapa	Single vehicle failed to take a left-hand corner. Left the road, rolling and colliding with trees.
31/03/2025	2.27pm	SH11, Puketona	Toyota ‘people mover’ has crossed the centreline and collided with an oncoming truck.
18/04/2025	2.00pm	SH12, Ruawai	Single vehicle Isuzu travelling west on SH12 Ruawai crossed the centreline and collided with a bank on the far side of the road.
24/04/2025	9.34am	SH1, Otaika	Adult pedestrian walking north on the edge of the south bound lane. Has fallen between rear axle sets of a truck and trailer unit which was travelling at low speed.
08/05/2025	4.30pm	SH1, Whakapara	Pedestrian crossing the road from BP Whakapara to a parked vehicle. Has been struck in the northbound lane. Passed away in hospital 11 days after the crash.
21/05/2025	1.15pm	SH12, Matakohe	Single vehicle has lost control on right hand bend, travelled across and off the side of the road, rolling onto its roof.
24/05/2025	1.25am	Riverside Drive, Whangarei	Single vehicle crash. Driver has failed to take right hand bend, hitting a barrier before continuing on to collided with metallic crossing pole.

Fatalities are currently 11 for 2025 (as at 26/05/2025). At the same time in 2024, the road toll for Northland was 20. In five of these fatalities, the deceased was not wearing a seatbelt.

The national road toll for 2025 (as at midnight on 26/05/2025) is 135.

Impairment

Between the dates of 1 July 2024 and 18 May 2025:

Ø 151,037 breath tests were conducted (compared with around 110,000 for the same period last year).

Ø 72% of tests were conducted in times considered ‘high-risk’ for drinking.

A group of police officers standing in front of cars

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Northland Police have also been conducting regular impairment checkpoints during mornings and early afternoons. These consistently yield drivers impaired by alcohol or drugs, along with disqualified/suspended/forbidden drivers. Some are not allowing an appropriate amount of time to pass after consuming large amounts of alcohol the night before. A man was apprehended on his way to work in Awanui with a breath alcohol reading of over 800 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.

Speed

Between 1 July 2024 and 18 May 2025:

Ø 18,315 officer issued infringements were served (compared with around 12,800 for the same period last year).

Ø 12,625 (69%) were on roads with an 80km or higher speed limit.

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Staff have noted there is still a mistaken belief by a large cross section of the Northland population that there is a 10km tolerance above the speed limit, before an infringement will be issued. This is not the case and many of our speed infringements are issued for speeds less than 10km over the limit. Additionally, there seems to be a commonly held view that there is no restriction on passing lane speed. Many have found out the hard way that this is not the case.

Kinetic energy quadruples for every doubling in speed. This means that the impact of a crash at 110km/h would be near 50% worse than at 100km/h.

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Northland has received support from Tamaki Makaurau Road Policing teams for various speed operations including the use of Police motorcycles which have been very well received by the public. The Auckland staff were very complimentary of the community engagement and noted the challenges operating in a district that is vastly different to those in Tamaki Makaurau.

A police car on the road

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Attachments/Ngā tapirihanga

Nil

Regional Transport Committee item: 7.6

10 June 2025

TITLE:	Committee Members Priorities and Updates
From:	Chris Powell, Transport Manager - Northland Regional Council and Kayla Gunson, Regional Transport Coordinator
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 03 June 2025

Whakarāpopototanga / Executive summary

The purpose of this agenda item is to provide each Elected Representative of the Northland Regional Transport Committee the opportunity to communicate the key strategic transportation issues identified by their respective Council/Organisation via either a written report or verbal update.

Members reports can help provide a list of strategic outputs for further consideration by the RTC.

Council roading and transport staff will be present at the meeting to provide responses to any questions or requests for information raised as part of their respective member updates.

Ngā mahi tūtohutia / Recommendation

1. That the report ‘Committee Members Priorities and Updates’ by Chris Powell, Transport Manager - Northland Regional Council and Kayla Gunson, Regional Transport Coordinator and dated 26 May 2025, be received.

Background/Tuhinga

Under the Northland Regional Transport Committee Terms of Reference, the functions of the Committee are defined as:

1. To prepare for approval by the Northland Regional Council:

a Regional Land Transport Plan for the Northland region, or any variations to the plan or any reports on the plan prepared under the Land Transport Management Act 2003;

a) a Regional Land Transport Plan for the Northland region, or any variations to the plan or any reportst on the plan prepared under the Land Transport Management Act 2003;

b) a Regional Public Transport Plan, or any variations to the plan prepared under the Land Transport Management Act 2003; and

c) to provide the regional council with any advice and assistance the regional council may request in relation to its transport responsibilities.

2. To adopt a policy that determines significance in respect of variations made to the Regional Land Transport Plan.

3. To regularly monitor and review progress towards the adoption and implementation of the Regional Land Transport Plan.

4. To approve procedures and requirements for implementing the council's public passenger transport service registration functions under the Act.

5. To advise the council on any significant legislative changes, programmes, plans or reports relating to the region’s land transport system.

6. To liaise with Ministry of Transport, New Zealand Transport Agency, the Commissioner of Police, district councils, Northland’s Road Safety Forum and other interests on land transport matters and advise the council on appropriate new initiatives.

7. To regularly monitor and review progress towards the performance targets and outcomes relative to land transport contained in the current Long-Term Plan and Annual Plan. members are tasked to regularly monitor and review progress towards the performance targets and outcomes related to land transport contained in the current Council Long-Term Plan and Annual Plan.

The objective of these regular member updates is to provide staff with clear understanding of the Regional Transport Committee’s key strategic issues and priorities to inform works associated with the 2024/2027 RLTP (and individual Council LTP’s where applicable). These reports can help provide a list of strategic outputs for further consideration by the RTC.

Members have raised several items to be discussed as follows (these are listed in detail within attachment 1):

Ø Cr Reid – Springs flat round about and dirt bike riders

Ø Cr Nayyar - KDC Proposed District plan. Proposed roundabout/traffic lights Hokianga Rd/Normanby St and Night lighting SH12 bridge.

Attachments/Ngā tapirihanga

Attachment 1: Commitee Members Priorties & Updates ⇩

FNDC Councillor, Steve McNally	WDC Councillor, Simon Reid	KDC Councillor, Ash Nayyar
Deputy Chairperson – NRC Councillor, John Blackwell	Waka Kotahi Director Regional Relationships, Steve Mutton	KiwiRail Programme Director Northland, Eric Hennephof

TITLE:	Confirmation of Minutes - 1 April 2025
From:	Haylee Labelle, Personal Assistant Community Resilience
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 14 May 2025

TITLE:	Receipt of Action Sheet
From:	Haylee Labelle, Personal Assistant Community Resilience
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 27 May 2025

TITLE:	Chair's Report
From:	Chris Powell, Transport Manager - Northland Regional Council
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 03 June 2025

TITLE:	Road Controlling Authority Reports
From:	Chris Powell, Transport Manager - Northland Regional Council
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 29 May 2025

TITLE:	NZTA Waka Kotahi Update for Te Tai Tokerau
From:	Steve Mutton, NZTA - Director Regional Relationships, Te Tai Tokerau me Tāmaki Makaurau
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 29 May 2025

TITLE:	KiwiRail Update
From:	Eric Hennephof, KiwiRail - Programme Director Northland
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Louisa Gritt, Group Manager - Community Resilience, on 20 May 2025