Our letter to GWRC after the bus depot meeting on 16 May
Thank you both for the meeting on Saturday 16 May 2026. It was great to hear from you and be able to raise concerns about the proposed bus depot.
We thought we’d capture the key action points arising from the meeting to ensure they don’t get lost as the work progresses (this note captures the action points, not all of the various concerns that were raised by residents):
There is a commitment by the Regional Council that no decision has been made on whether the Landfill Rd site will be used for a bus depot. The approach said to have been taken was simply to obtain the land as an asset.
A future decision is yet to be made by the Council after relevant other approvals such as resource consents have been obtained. You undertook to come back to us on the exact provisions under the Local Government Act 2002 with which this final decision would be made, and the process and input the community would have with respect to that final decision, noting this included the ongoing engagement at present. We would also like to know the timeframes when known, what information will go to the decision maker, who will make the decision and whether the Community will have an opportunity to submit and be heard prior to the decision being made.
You undertook to come back to us on the exact resource consents from the City Council and Regional Council being applied for. At the meeting you indicated you did not know what that included but when known would be in touch. We asked for, and you said you would consider, whether the applications can be provided for our input prior to lodgement. That is our preference for meaningful engagement.
In terms of expert reports, you confirmed the Regional Council was commissioning reports from a range of different disciplines for the purpose of the final decision on the site and whether it will be used for a bus depot, in particular:
Traffic has started and you will confirm to us whether we can see the instruction already issued to the experts. You also confirmed we can have input into amendments given this is underway already.
Noise.
Air quality.
Safety.
Environment impacts.
5. With respect to the above reports, to meaningfully engage, we would appreciate an ability to input into the scope of work being requested, as well as being able to comment on the draft outputs before the reports are finalised. This will ensure we know the various issues that are being raised (cycling hazards, road surface, lightning, noise and nuisance for residents, etc as raised at the meeting on Saturday), are being adequately captured in these reports.
6. We noted the traffic assessment should include the cumulative impacts, given the significant heavy use of a linear route already. On that, it was noted the information provided at the Saturday meeting did not assess the total impacts based on existing use by buses and did not capture the increased traffic for drivers coming to and from the site. We understood you would consider this further.
7. You noted the issue of the existing bus network is separate. However, you also noted there are public tenders for a further three months, and the contracts come up for expiry in 2028. We expressed a desire to understand more on this and how these tenders are being provided for given you note no decision has yet been made on the site for a bus depot.
8. You undertook to consider a community Facebook page, or mailing list to ensure the community is kept up-to-date and informed on progress.
9. There was a desire to ensure that all bodies are talking to each other – landfill, councils, and traffic engineers, in particular. It was floated, with support from the room, that having the City Council and traffic engineers in a future meeting would be a good idea.
10. Finally, while not discussed today, given the indication you provided that there has been no decision on the bus depot, we would like to know what assessment of alternatives is being made. You have stated the decision to acquire the site was not for the purpose of making a decision on it being a bus depot, so we assume there will be a proper consideration of alternatives occurring, and would appreciate understanding how that will work? You noted if the site turned out to not be suited it would be disposed of, yet what other steps are the council taking to ensure there is a plan B.
We look forward to an update on these matters when we next meet.
Ngā mihi
OBRA
