Ramming things through

The Herald reports:

Transport Minister Michael Wood has rejected official advice to delay public consultation to give councils the power to ban cars on some roads until after October’s local body elections.

Under Wood’s “Reshaping Streets” reforms, councils will have the power to “prohibit or restrict the use of motor vehicles, or one or more classes of motor vehicles, on the roadway”.

So they want to ban the vehicles that generally provide the funding for the roads!

Wood went ahead with public consultation on the proposals last month after the Department of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Transport advised him to wait until after the local body elections.

The Department of Internal Affairs said “it would be inappropriate to consult closely before an election” and the Ministry of Transport agreed, saying it would “overlap heavily with the pre-election period” with consultation finishing three weeks before the election. …

They really hate making it wasy for people to have their say.