Schools welcome speed reductions after years of ‘battling’

More than 300 roads across Nelson Tasman are expected to have speed limits cut over the next four years.

Schools are welcoming the move, but some are frustrated the speeds can't drop sooner.

Nelson:

The changes are “good news” for Auckland Point School in Nelson where safety has been a concern for years, principal Sonya Hockley said.

“We have been campaigning for quite some time, the board and I, to be able to have reduced speed outside our school because of the sheer volume of traffic and the speed.”

The school lies on one of the city’s main arterial routes where the speed limit has been 50kmh at all times.

“We've made alternative arrangements ourselves in having staggered going home times at the end of the day and drop-and-go in the mornings. We have the pedestrian crossing supervised with teachers every day,” Hockley said.

But last week, the region’s two councils approved a speed management plan that would see a raft of changes across Nelson Tasman – including introducing 30kmh variable speed limits around all schools during their starting and finishing times.

Hockley welcomed the changes, but she also expressed frustration at the timeframe in which the new speeds would be implemented.

The affected roads by Auckland Point School, both lanes Haven Road and Māori Road, are expected to updated in July 2025.

“It needs to be implemented very quickly. This is about children's safety and their lives, and it seems that children's safety isn't paramount, and it should be.”

She also said that any gains in safety would only be achieved if drivers adhered to the new limits.

“We have to teach people that this is the law … you have to abide by it.”

Ngātīmoti:

Presiding member of the Ngātīmoti School board, Andy McFarland said the school has been pushing for lower speed limits around the school for a long time.

Currently, both roads that pass within just a couple of metres from the rural Tasman school – the Motueka Valley Highway and Greenhill Road – have speed limits of 100kmh.

Those speeds will now be lowered to 60kmh, alongside the introduction of the 30kmh variable speed limits.

McFarland thought the changes were going to make a “massive difference”.

“Cars are going pretty fast through there, big trucks and stuff like that, so I think it's really good.”

While most locals knew to drive slowly around the school, he said having lower speeds signposted would be a good thing for those from outside the area.

Though the speeds around Ngātīmoti School will be one of the first in the region to be changed, McFarland also had frustrations with the expected implementation date of 27 January 2025.

A new section of the Great Taste Trail cycleway recently opened near the school and more children are now biking to school – a “big change”.

He said it was “unlikely” that a child would leave the track on go onto the road, but he would have liked to see the speed reduced alongside the opening of the trail.

“It just takes one accident,” McFarland said. “I’m not sure why it takes so long to do… it would be good to get it done sooner rather than later.”

McFarland added the reduced speeds would also make it safer to cross the “tight” Peninsula Bridge which sits within the 60kmh zone.

Richmond:

Tim Brenton has been the principal at Richmond School for more than twenty years and the town has grown significantly during that time.

As the number of students and cars on the road have risen, roads adjacent to the school have got significantly busier but have remained at 50kmh.

“We’re really firm – the kids have to use the crossings, they can't go out the gate … and straight across the road, because that would be incredibly dangerous,” Brenton said.

He thought the variable speed limit “makes sense”.

“I'm pleased that they're looking at doing something. It's really important to keep kids safe.”

The speeds around Richmond School are expected to be updated in April 2026.

While he welcomed the change, Brenton said the area in which the variable limit will apply could be confusing for drivers.

In their joint speed management plan, the Nelson City and Tasman District Councils aligned many of their variable zones with the Government’s new draft rule on setting speed limits which dictates that the zones extend no farther than 150 metres from a school gate.

This means Richmond’s Dorset, Oxford, and Waverley Streets will only have variable speed limits applied to some of their length rather than the entire road.

Brenton also thought it was “ridiculous” that the Waverley Street variable limit wouldn’t extend beyond Trinity Lane to include an immediately adjacent preschool.

“I'd be more worried about little kids running out of a preschool.”

Councillors’ views:

In last week’s meeting where the two councils approved their final speed plan, Tasman councillor Trindi Walker drew attention to preschools falling outside of variable zones.

Jane Murray, a transportation planning advisor at the Tasman council, said the Government’s guidance was “silent” on speed around early childhood education centres.

She also acknowledged the two councils “overlooked” the exclusion of speed limits around preschools in their joint submission on the Government’s draft speed rule that was approved earlier in July – a matter Tasman Mayor Tim King thought was “frustrating”.

Speaking on the incoming speed limit changes more generally during last week’s meeting, King said the final plan had, “as best as possible”, balanced Government guidance with community requests.

Stuart Bryant, Tasman’s deputy mayor and chair of the joint regional transport committee, said developing the plan had been a “long and challenging process”.

“I’ve spent more time frustrated about this than most things on council.”

However, he said the councils had considered the needs of communities, some of whom have been “battling” to get speed reductions for a long time.

“We did hear from local communities; they know their roads best … I think we’ve ended in a good place.”

Nelson Mayor Nick Smith said the final speed plan had found the “right balance” between what communities wanted, efficiency, and improving safety in some areas.

He added that the council wasn’t introducing blanket speed limit reductions, which had been both opposed by residents and demonstrated as uneconomical.

While the speed management plan was comfortably approved by the joint committee of both councils last week, some Nelson councillors voted against the plan.

Councillor Aaron Stallard questioned the robustness of the cost-benefit analyses which didn’t consider the benefits of encouraging mode shift.

He argued that reducing speeds would make it safer for people to cycle, reducing the number of people using cars, and therefore reduce both emissions and congestion.

“It really is a missed opportunity to create safe cycling and transport choice,” Stallard said.

“The vast majority of our emissions are from transport, I think it’s a problem that we just need to tackle.”

Councillor Mel Courtney also denounced the Government for “intruding” into council affairs by limiting the extent to which they can lower speeds.

“Our communities are telling us that they want lower and safer speed limits,” he said.

“We must prioritise and value people and their safety before and above everything else.”

Tasman councillor Christeen Mackenzie described the process councils must follow to change speeds as “unbelievable” in terms of both its length and its cost.

“I think the ratepayers would be flabbergasted,” she said. “The system is maybe not fit for purpose.”