National MP Chris Bishop calls for second access road to Wainuiomata

National list MP Chris Bishop is garnering support for a second access road to the Wellington suburb of Wainuiomata, claiming it would help unlock land for much-needed housing developments.

But Hutt City Council has responded that it is too late for Bishop’s petition to be considered as part of its long-term plan, and any decision on a new road would need to be made at a regional level.

Bishop said the second road, which has been discussed for years and would run from northern Wainuiomata to Naenae, would unlock land that could be used for thousands of new houses, and provide an alternative route in and out of the suburb.

“The main driver for it is we’ve got to get building housing,” Bishop said.

READ MORE:
* Ambitious Ngauranga to Petone shared pathway ‘a win for all Wellingtonians’
* Landslide in Porirua hits two homes as heavy rain continues in Wellington
* Both northbound lanes reopened after major delays from slip on Wellington motorway

Bishop’s petition, which he plans to present to Hutt City Council during submissions on its proposed long-term plan in May, comes amid a worsening housing crisis in Lower Hutt and predictions of increasing traffic flows into the city.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency said in 2019 it was expecting an extra 12,000 vehicles to hit State Highway 2 between Lower Hutt and Wellington by 2036, with 81,000 vehicles expected every day between Petone and Ngauranga Gorge.

But Bishop said the city’s “massive housing shortage” was the main reason the road was needed.

In a statement, Bishop said the average house price in Lower Hutt had increased drastically in the past year, while the city’s social housing waitlist was at near record levels.

He has called on the council to seek infrastructure funding from the central Government’s $3.8 billion fund for accelerating housing supply, and to include the road as a priority in its draft long-term plan.

“We have a housing crisis in the Hutt and action is overdue and urgent,” Bishop said.

However, Hutt City councillor Deborah Hislop, who chairs the council’s infrastructure and regulatory committee, said the long-term plan was already out for public feedback, so it was too late for the proposal to be included.

She said the council was “open to having a conversation with central Government” about a second road, but any decision would need to be made through the draft Wellington region growth framework.

“We do need to increase the resilience for Wainuiomata,” Hislop said.

“It’s a very fast-growing area of our city and there is only one road in and one road out.”

Hutt South MP Ginny Andersen said the proposal warranted further investigation, but she was keen to see updated costs for the project.

The second road has been discussed for many years, with the council facing a backlash from residents when it proposed a new road and subdivision under a proposed urban growth strategy in 2013.

The backlash occurred because the northern Wainuiomata residents were worried they would lose parts of their land under the proposal, which included subdividing land off Wellington Rd and Upper Fitzherbert Rd for 2000 new homes.

At the time, the access road was expected to cost $36 million, and was proposed to cater for the large number of people who would be housed in the subdivision. The council has not received any updated costs since then.

The rural land was identified again late last year as a major potential development area under the regional growth framework, which predicted an extra 200,000 people would live in the region over the next 30 years.