Transport Indicators (what we measure)

Overview

A good transport system is vital to the prosperity of the district. It provides the link between different areas, and gives people access to attend to their needs and activities. Transport enables businesses to access resources and markets, and provides people with social, cultural, recreational and employment opportunities. Transportation and traffic growth can result in economic, environmental, social and safety impacts that need to be managed through careful land use decisions.

While Matamata-Piako maintains an efficient transport system providing many benefits to the community, there are also several social and environmental impacts of the system.

Our Situation

Our urban areas are relatively free of significant parking, loading and vehicle access problems. However, traffic safety along state highways and arterial routes (major roads) is of concern as traffic speeds are often high due to the flat and open nature of the environment.

Traffic can generate adverse effects; particularly by creating noise. In some locations, roads with high vehicle counts affect the use, values and function of the neighbouring environment.

The District Plan requires a resource consent for any new entranceway, or where there is any increase in the character, scale or intensity of use of an existing entranceway, onto a significant road or arterial road. Since 2009/10 the trend has been for a steady decrease in the number of resource consents that include entranceways onto major roads.

Parking

New developments can create traffic problems if there is not enough parking available. In the industrial and business zones, there have been 46 resource consents granted between 2008/09 and 2018/19 for activities that did not require additional on-site parking or loading. From 2011/12 to 2013/14 all the consents granted could provide parking from existing on or off-street car parks.

Plan Change 43 – Transport, which was made operative in 2015/16, introduced an exemption for businesses in the Shopping Frontage Areas of the three main towns with a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 1 or less. Businesses with a FAR of 1 whose total floor area does not exceed the area of the lot upon which it is built are exempt from having to supply parking if they instead supplied a verandah for pedestrian shelter as it promotes a pedestrian-friendly environment. The plan change also introduced as an alternative means of compliance: the ability for business owners in lieu of providing onsite parking spaces to make a financial contribution.

Council’s most recent annual customer survey of July 2018 showed that 25% of respondents are dissatisfied with the availability of car parks within Matamata. Further work will be done to consider future vehicle use patterns as well as the possibility of future new car parks in the town.

Signs

Signs that are poorly located can distract driver attention and restrict visibility. The number of resource consents granted that permit signage on or visible from a state highway has remained consistently low since 2007/08. The consent in 2013/14 was for a sign to be erected for a recreational club located beside the state highway in urban Morrinsville. The three consents in 15/16 related to signage at the Tatua Dairy factory, and the erection of a 6.5m cow statue and a billboard in central Morrinsville. The consent in 2017/18 was for a petrol station sign adjoining State Highway 24, near Matamata.