lizard news
22nd April 2025
Katikati & Ōmokoroa
Caring about loCal Community matters from te Puna to Waihī beaCh
Residents: Wright Road done wrong way By Matthew Farrell
esidents of Wright Road in Aongatete, appealing for a restoration of right hand turns at their State Highway 2 intersection, have taken their case to the House of Representatives. A petition was lodged asking for the removal of new barriers blocking access to Wright Road, Aongatete Road, Dawson Road and workplaces from State Highway 2. That led Rochelle Zajko and Peter Clark to an audience with a Select Committee, supported by Coromandel MP Scott Simpson. “The NZTA Board meets this week. We could hear a yay or nay in the next few days, and I’ll be following up. We are not going to leave it,” says Rochelle. “Anger isn’t abating. If NZTA keeps it as it is, that anger will continue. We are witnessing our community fall apart in real time, as neighbours put homes on the market due to extra fuel and time costs,” she says. “Rochelle has been a relentless advocate for Wright Road residents, south of Katikati. “I sat in support of her as she presented her petition to the Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee, asking that right turn access be reinstated. “Rochelle and the Wright Road residents are right on this. The NZ Transport Agency is wrong.
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Two wrongs don’t make a Wright turn? PHOTO: Matthew Farrell.
“Thank you Rochelle and Peter Clark for making the trip to Wellington and engaging with the committee. It was great to be there to support you as your electorate MP,” says Scott. Peter is a recent Wright Road resident of 22 years, and was an Opus maintenance manager for the NZ Transport Agency for eight years from 1994 to 2002. “The no right turn has created a more dangerous situation than there had ever been. Now we have illegal u-turns even from the Police, because it has been installed so badly. The way NZTA has acted is firing people up and creating this chaos,” he says. “At a community meeting in Katikati in July last year to discuss the project, 300 people turned up. NZTA were invited and
didn’t show, and instructed their contractor to start work that night, while people were at the meeting,” says Peter. Residents want the previous right turn bay reinstated. They say there was no meaningful consultation with the people of Wright Road and nearby businesses, including the Seeka packhouse. Leveret and Mills Reef Winery are now cut off from holiday makers travelling past from Auckland and need safer truck access. Rochelle and Peter told the Select Commitee the new roundabouts are too small and they disputed the accuracy of crash database statistics used to support the barrier rationale. Peter says there were no crashes in the three years the right-hand turn bay was operating, and that NZTA promised ver-
bally at public meetings not to take it away. “NZTA’s Vanessa Browne didn’t answer many of the questions and said she’d report back. We watch with interest and hope for further discussion,” he says. Rochelle says rural roads like Wright Road can frequently have either serious accidents, medical crises, bush and shelter fires, or crime. “On reflection, it’s disappointing to simply meet us and hear our concerns. We went to Wellington with a 30-plus page submission. We’ve dealt with hundreds of emails from residents and NZTA showed up so unprepared, brushing questions aside. “There is a doubling down attitude towards communities and people affected, and an unwillingness to take accountability and fix mistakes. It’s quite visible; everyone sees it now. “I don’t think NZTA are hearing the concerns from the whole region’s perspective, which are very valid. Local councillors could have gone to bat for us really hard if there had been a genuine roundtable discussion before this happened. “I hope NZTA will reverse this, but they came into the Select Committee talking about camera footage, safety, and enforcement of the u-turns and unsafe movements that their intersection has led to. But they never mentioned restoring the right-hand turn to address the issues.”
Thunderstorms saturate Easter By Matthew Farrell ild and windy weather lashed the region before and through Easter Weekend, due to the effects of ex-tropical cyclone Tam in the Tasman Sea. Community volunteers in Waihī Beach rallied to protect the surf club from flooding in the knowledge of past events, as the North Island battened down the hatches. A yacht sank in Northland on Wednesday 16th April, with gusts up to 130km/h measured at Cape Reinga, lane closures on Auckland Harbour Bridge, and domestic flights cancelled.
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A lot of sand was shifted at Waihī Beach. PHOTO: Facebook.
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Twenty thousand properties were left without electricity from Northland and the Coromandel Peninsula through Hauraki, South Waikato, Matamata-Piako, the Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and elsewhere. Trees and branches brought down power lines as roads and other infrastructure were damaged. Orange heavy rain warnings were in place for the Coromandel Peninsula, the Bay of Plenty west of Whakatāne, including Rotorua and the Kaimai Range, Gisborne north of Tokomaru Bay, and Tasman northwest of Motueka. State Highway 25 around the Coroman-
Ōmokoroa Katikati
del Peninsula was closed due to floods south of Tairua. State Highway 5 north of Rotorua was blocked after a tree fell and reportedly struck a car near Waiohotu Road just after 6am Thursday. An hour later, a bridge on State Highway 29 east of Te Poi was blocked after a tree fell across the bridge and hit a car, preventing Tauranga-Hamilton traffic. At midnight on Thursday 17th April, Karangahaki Gorge was closed due to major flooding. A line of thunderstorms continued moving very slowly across the country throughout Easter Weekend as this article was written.
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