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Speaker 1: Big changes are coming for Auckland transport. The council set

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Speaker 1: to make so sorry to take back control of policy

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Speaker 1: and planning, and a new Regional Transport Committee will be

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Speaker 1: established to work on a thirty year plan for the city.

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Speaker 1: Orcand Council will also become a road controlling authority and

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Speaker 1: it will share the decision making with the democratically elected

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Speaker 1: local boards. Hopefully, the idea is that we will be

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Speaker 1: able to have more say over what happens on our roads.

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Speaker 1: The bill making the changes still needs to go through

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Speaker 1: Parliament's going to be ages. It'll be like a two

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Speaker 1: year transition. Damien Light is the how local board chair.

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Speaker 1: He's with me this morning, Damien, good.

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Speaker 2: Morning, good morning.

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Speaker 1: Does this mean that we will have fewer cycle ways

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Speaker 1: and raised pedestrian crossings and faster speeds and all the

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Speaker 1: things that the government says that people really want in Auckland.

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Speaker 2: Well, I hope what we'll see is better decisions being made,

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Speaker 2: a more responsive to what local wants. And I think

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Speaker 2: there's a lot of tool about having but what pedestrian

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Speaker 2: conscience on cycle ways? I think people do want them,

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Speaker 2: but they want them in the right place, and I

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Speaker 2: think that's the good thing about better democratic oversight and

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Speaker 2: more powerful boards is you're hopefully more likely to see

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Speaker 2: pedestrian crossings and type of ways in the places where

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Speaker 2: people need them or where they actually want them to right.

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Speaker 1: Because that's the big thing. I think people think, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: au Can Transport, we're blowing it up, and that means

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Speaker 1: that we're going to suddenly get everything but that way

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Speaker 1: we want. If you look at how, for example, where

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Speaker 1: you're the chair the local board, you are now going

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Speaker 1: to be devolved specific transport functions over those things parking,

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Speaker 1: speed limits, you know, all those kinds of things. Is

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Speaker 1: it possible that we could actually see more of those

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Speaker 1: things because local boards might be more gung ho than

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Speaker 1: All Can Transport was.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a possibility, right. But I think the advantage

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Speaker 2: of democratic oversight is that it gives the public the

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Speaker 2: ability to express their their happiness or or displeasure, I

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Speaker 2: guess with those decisions because we have an election of

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Speaker 2: meets currently every three years, and so the public will

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Speaker 2: have a bit of a more say over the people

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Speaker 2: who are making those decisions. And I think that's been

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Speaker 2: the great value of All Can Transport. And look, it's

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Speaker 2: been a bit of an experiment in the near fourteen years.

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Speaker 2: But I think what I think most people would accept

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Speaker 2: that it hasn't really worked. It was in ended. You know,

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Speaker 2: it was meant to be non political. The idea was

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Speaker 2: letting it off and say, oh, it's in dependent, it's

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Speaker 2: not going to get political, and you know it's well

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Speaker 2: be able to get off to get things done. I

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Speaker 2: don't think it has and I think by ironically, by

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Speaker 2: trying to remove politicians from it, it's actually made it

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Speaker 2: more political.

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Speaker 1: What happens, well, I suppose it removed the feeling that

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Speaker 1: we had control over it despite its ionic CEO title.

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Speaker 1: Do you have the local boards have the capacity to

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Speaker 1: actually make decisions about transport projects?

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Speaker 2: Now, yeah, well we do a little bit. We have

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Speaker 2: a little bit to say over some projects that happened

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Speaker 2: in the area and actually compid all contransport. The last

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Speaker 2: couple of years, probably the last twelve months, they've been

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Speaker 2: working really hard and listen to local boards better and

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Speaker 2: as you respond to what our desires and what we

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Speaker 2: said s important, which is great, so that their organization

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Speaker 2: is capable of doing it. And I think local boards

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Speaker 2: are shown that they can do it as well. Hope

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Speaker 2: we need some more advice and support though, So it's

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Speaker 2: one of one of those things, right, It's not it

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Speaker 2: won't happen overnight, but there's a bit of a bit

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Speaker 2: of a change it's going to need to happen.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and some is definitely going to be a bit

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Speaker 1: more on their gender, I'd say, Damien light how local

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Speaker 1: boards share with us This morning

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