- By Simeon Brown, MP for Pakuranga
The Labour Government recently announced their intention to restrict school drop-offs and pick-ups as part of their Reshaping Streets policy, in a lazy attempt to force you out of your cars.
They claim their intent with this proposal is to get more children walking to school or taking public transport but, in reality, it’s simply another example of Labour trying to tell you how to live your life by shutting down streets around schools during school pick-up and drop-off time.
This is ultimately what happens when ideology prevails over common sense. Sometimes there isn’t a problem to solve; the limited resources we have must be spent wisely and on things that will actually help Kiwis.
Another problem with the Reshaping Streets policy is the proposal to allow local councils to make significant changes to our streets without the need to consult the people who live on them.
This would include the ability to implement measures such as banning cars from certain streets based on their emissions, re-purpose streets as playgrounds during the day or block off one end of the street.
They are also proposing to remove consultation requirements for “pilot trials” of changes to your street, such as the removal of kerbside parking or the addition of speed bumps and planter boxes.
This is a radical set of proposals that would turn our streets into the plaything of Council and the Government, instead of just letting people get to where they need to go.
National has started a petition calling on the Government to scrap this policy and let Kiwis move around the way they want to. You can sign this petition at www.simeonbrown.national.org.nz/parkingpetition.
