What is the proposal?

Memorial Park

The Ministry of Culture and Heritage proposes to build a Memorial Park adjacent to the present War Memorial on Buckle St (in front of the Carrillon and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier).  The Park is expected to occupy the land area between Mt Cook School and adjacent buildings in St Martin Square  to the North, the block of land with Massey University, the War Memorial, the old Police Barracks and the Defence Forces site to the South, Tory and Tasman Sts to the East and Taranaki Street to the West.

The project also involves the Wellington City Council, Transit New Zealand and the Ministry of Defence as the other main government stakeholders.

What is/are the problems?

Buckle Street is expected to be routed in a gradual arc past the Mt Cook School - about 10m at the closest point - instead of its present location about 40m away from the School boundary. Mt Cook School representatives and parents believe there will be major ill-effects if this proposed road change goes ahead.

Air pollution

Increases in the concentrations of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and small particles (PM10) by 260% each are expected as a consequence of moving Buckle Street as planned, according to Ministry of the Enviroment formulae.  Traffic pollution in this case cannot be mitigated or blocked: none of the mitigation options offered by the Ministry of the Enviroment apply here . Trees, walls, etc. are good and necessary for reducing noise, but make no difference whatsoever to localised hour-by-hour air pollution levels.

In study after study, traffic pollution has been shown to damage children’s respiratory health, and the higher the exposure, the worse the effects. In particular, traffic pollution exacerbates asthma. Truck traffic is particularly bad. Furthermore, a recent study suggests traffic pollution exposure in children can cause permanent, life shortening lung damage. I have a long list of references for these, rather too long to include here right now, though I might manage a summary later. However, the Ministry of the Environment site on air pollution cited earlier has some general information worth looking at - in Wellington, particle concentrations already cause an estimated 79 premature deaths, 30 hospitalisations and 100,000 person days of restricted activity per year. Click here to see more.

Traffic safety

The main traffic intersection will be brought much closer to school entrance.  Traffic volumes have been increased by the creation of the Wellington Inner City Bypass from Willis Street to the Basin Reserve, and are expected to increase further.  This is particularly worrying as significant safety concerns with the existing Buckle-Tory St intersection have been reported to, and acknowledged by, the Wellington City Council.  For example vehicles frequently run through one of the crossing when pedestrians have a signal to go.  These present concerns remain unaddressed, but could be dealt with using a bridge for North-South foot traffic over Buckle Street in its existing location.  

Seeking the best outcome for users

What about the greater vision for Mt Cook - linking with other developments

What is wanted?

What are the options?

Presenting to the Memorial Park Project Committee

A meeting with the project committee is planned for 26 June 2007

Here is a PDF version of the presentation made to the committee - 2.5MB

Also here are the accompanying notes and references in support of the Mt Cook School presentation