22 Aug 2015

Call for leadership after flyover failure

1:25 pm on 22 August 2015

A Wellington City councillor says the Council needs to take leadership now that the High Court has rejected the Transport Agency's bid to revive the controversial Basin Reserve flyover.

An artist's impression of the proposed Basin Reserve flyover.

An artist's impression of the proposed Basin Reserve flyover. Photo: NZTA

The agency yesterday lost its appeal against an independent board of inquiry's decision last year to deny the Basin Reserve flyover resource consent.

In its appeal to the High Court, the agency cited what it called 35 errors of law in the board's decision - but Justice Brown has found the board acted lawfully in making its decision.

City councillor, and co-founder of the Save the Basin campaign, Iona Pannett said the council now needed to take the lead in looking at alternatives.

"I imagine the some people will be disappointed by it, the council has been divided on this point.

"But really the council needs to show some leadership now. This has been a really bad decision, they're continued to support it."

"We really just need to take a deep breath and think about some other ideas."

MP for Wellington Central, Grant Robertson, welcomed the decision and said the agency now needed to look at alternatives to solve the area's congestion.

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