Group fights for Upper Moutere path

A group of Upper Moutere residents are fighting for a safe pathway between the village and community centre to go ahead after it was shelved by the council.

Moutere Hills Residents Association chairman Nathan Silcock says the long-awaited path was going to be built this summer with funding from the Tasman District Council and New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). That was until the Government slashed the budget for walking and cycling improvements. With the NZTA funding gone for the new path, the council deferred the $400,000 project until early 2026.

But Nathan says it is a safety issue and local residents are now lobbying the council to get it built this summer.

“Our concern is safety and we don’t want to wait because it’s an election year next year and will it then happen? So, we want it to happen now.”

He says there has been little debate on the delay of the project and he wants the community to have a proper conversation with the council.

From the council’s perspective, its 10-year plan assumed NZTA would provide 51 per cent of the shared pathway which is a 1.3km gravel/concrete shared pathway for pedestrians and cyclists, aimed at providing a safe route for school children as well as visitors. The council learnt in September that NZTA would no longer fund its chunk of the project and elected council members met last month where they decided it was not possible for the council to fund the entire project this year.

Council transport manager, Jamie McPherson, says that in order to limit increases to rates and debt levels, the council has made it clear that it cannot put additional funding towards the project in the 2024-25 year, which is why it aims to ensure the project is finished in 2025-26.

“We share the Moutere Hills’ community’s desire to see the completion of the Upper Moutere pathway within a reasonable timeframe.”

The council has stated that completing the project in the 2025-26 year effectively uses two years-worth of council funding.

Nathan says he would like the council to consider spending some of next year’s budget in advance to get the job done.

“It comes down to priorities and we want them to work a bit harder on it.  We’ve been wanting it long enough.”

The community has been lobbying for the path since 2008 and Nathan says the association was formed to get the job done. Negotiations with landowners took some time to get the strip of land to build the path, but Nathan says it is now time to build it.

“We’ve got a great sports centre 1.5km down the road from most of the community. There’s just nowhere to walk and it’s marginal for cycling. It’s a narrow, 100kmh road. If two cars are passing each other, you have to jump in the ditch.”