Q: What is a Regional Land Transport Strategy (RLTS)?

A: The Land Transport Management Act 2003 (LTMA) requires each region to prepare a Regional Land Transport Strategy (RLTS). The RLTS sets out a thirty year vision for transport and enables the regional council to provide guidance on the land transport outcomes sought by the region.

The Strategy is important for a number of reasons. It influences how the region’s transport funding is used and it provides direction to organisations, such as city and district councils, and the New Zealand Transport Agency, as they develop and implement transport projects.

Q: What is the Canterbury RLTS 2012-2042 seeking to achieve?

A: The RLTS seeks to invest in a transport system that provides realistic choices for people and businesses about if, how and where they travel. It seeks a transport system that is supported by land use patterns that make transport accessible and affordable. It seeks to make transport more efficient, through informed individual travel decisions promoted through appropriate use of education, enforcement and price signals.

By diversifying investment to provide greater choice throughout the region, the transport system can become more resilient. Communities will be better able to cope with external influences such as economic downturns, oil price volatility and changing demographics. For business interests, greater freight efficiency will enable the region’s producers to adapt to changing transport costs and international shipping practices.

This will require:

• Finishing what we started
  Completing agreed strategic infrastructure projects.
• Looking after what we have
  Greater attention to maintaining existing networks.
• Providing more choice
  Investing more in initiatives that facilitate walking, cycling and public transport use, particularly in urban areas, to provide greater mode choice.
• Doing things smarter
  Ensuring that land use, pricing, education and enforcement measures will achieve network efficiency and safety gains.

Q: Who prepares the RLTS?

A: The RLTS is prepared by the Canterbury Regional Transport Committee. Each regional council must establish a regional transport committee for its region and appoint members to represent the regional council; each territorial authority in the region; the New Zealand Transport Agency and representatives of the objectives of the LTMA and cultural interests.

Q: Who sits on the Canterbury Regional Transport Committee?

A: The Canterbury Regional Transport Committee has the following members:

• Commissioner R Williams (Chairperson) – Environment Canterbury
• Commissioner T Lambie – Environment Canterbury
• Mayor J Coles – Wiamate District Council
• Councillor E Williams – Mackenzie District Council
• Councillor M Oliver – Timaru District Council
• Mayor A McKay – Ashburton District Council
• Councillor J Morton – Selwyn District Council
• Councillor C Williams – Christchurch City Council
• Mayor D Ayers – Waimakariri District Council
• Mayor W Dalley – Hurunui District Council
• Councillor D Holmes – Kaikoura District Council
• J Harland – New Zealand Transport Agency
• A Macbeth – Access and Mobility
• Dr S Kingham – Environmental Sustainability
• Dr A Stevenson – Public Health

Q: What changes were made to the draft RLTS following public consultation?

A: The changes from the Draft document that has been consulted upon are relatively minor.  There was strong support across most submitters for the general direction of the strategy, broad support for “finishing what has been started” and then changing direction and support for the new document structure, particularly differential treatment of urban and rural issues.

Key changes made were as follows:

• Some amendment to the stated linkages between strategy outcomes and objectives;
• A stronger stance taken around the opportunities that earthquake recovery may offer to deliver in strategy outcomes sooner rather than later;
• Better referencing of the key themes of the governments’ Safer Journeys 2020 strategy and incorporation of the New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy 2011-2016 that was released after the RLTS was approved for public consultation.

Q: How does the current RLTS differ from the RLTS 2008-2018?

A; The legislation that governs the preparation of regional land transport strategies changed in 2008 – amending the documents’ timeframe from 10 to 30 years.  Furthermore, the 2008-18 RLTS was largely an update of the 2005-15 RLTS. As such, it is many years since the Canterbury region developed a RLTS from first principles.  The 2012-42 strategy represents a significant departure in terms of style, content and direction when compared to the 2008-18 document.

Q: What is the status of the RLTS 2008-2018?

A: The Regional Land Transport Strategy 2008-18 has now been replaced by the Regional Land Transport Strategy 2012-42. 

Q: How does the RLTS relate to the Regional Policy Statement?

A: The Regional Policy Statement is a requirement of the Resource Management Act. It includes policies relating to land use, transport and regionally significant infrastructure. The LTMA requires an RLTS to be consistent with the policy in the Regional Policy Statement.

Q: How does the RLTS relate to the earthquake recovery strategy and plans produced under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act?

A: The Draft RLTS was released for consultation at a time that will likely coincide with the consultation period for earthquake recovery strategy produced by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority and Christchurch City Council under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act. This alignment of consultation periods is advantageous as it will enable interested parties to consider these planning documents in a coordinated manner. The RLTS sets out the strategic direction for the provision of transport in the whole Canterbury Region over the next 30 years. The earthquake recovery strategy has a broader remit, taking into consideration all aspects of recovery from the earthquakes and will have a sub-regional focus on the areas of Christchurch City, Selwyn and Waimakariri District that have been most adversely affected. Should the RLTS be inconsistent with any earthquake recovery strategies or plans, the content of the recovery strategy or plan prevails under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act.

Q: How does the RLTS relate to Christchurch City Council’s “Central City Plan”?

A: The Draft RLTS was released for consultation at a time that will likely coincide with the consultation period for Christchurch City Council’s “Central City Plan” produced under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act. This alignment of consultation periods is advantageous as it will enable interested parties to consider these documents in a coordinated manner. The RLTS sets out the strategic direction for the provision of transport in the whole Canterbury Region over the next 30 years. The Central City Plan has a broader remit, taking into consideration all aspects of recovery from the earthquakes but only for the Central City of Christchurch. Should the RLTS be inconsistent with this earthquake recovery plan in any way, the content of the recovery plan prevails under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act.

Q: Has the RLTS got anything to do with the "Share an idea" event that was organised?

A: No. The Share an idea event was organised by the Christchurch City Council to gather ideas from the public about how Christchurch can recover from the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. However, the information gathered will inform the Christchurch Central City Plan discussed above, so could have an influence on how the RLTS might be delivered for that part of the region.

Q: What is the relationship between the RLTS and the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport Funding?

A: The RLTS must take into account the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport Funding. This document outlines how central government funding for land transport (from the National Land Transport Fund) will be allocated over the next 3 years and an indication of how it will be used for the following 7 years. This funding has become more important for delivering transport in Canterbury having risen as a proportion of all funding over the last decade to contribute approximately half of the spending on transport in the region over the last few years. Therefore, this Government Policy Statement has a significant impact on the scope and quantity of transport activities that can be delivered in the short to medium term.

Q: How does the RLTS relate to the National Infrastructure Plan?

A: The RLTS, like the National Infrastructure Plan, takes a cross-sectoral and integrated view of the role of transport. For example, it advocates for investment in transport infrastructure where needed, but emphasises that investment in other sectors can reduce the overall need to travel. The implementation of the RLTS also requires demand management measures that make the most effective use of the transport system. These themes are also articulated in the National Infrastructure Plan. The Government Policy Statement on Land Transport Funding (see above) articulates central governments' priorities for the transport sector over a 10 year period and, as such, articulates the transport elements of the National Infrastructure Plan that can be delivered.

Q: How will the RLTS be implemented and by whom?

A: The following types of implementation intervention are included in the strategy to ensure efficient delivery of the RLTS. They reflect the full range of tools available to achieve the objectives and regional outcomes. Actions across the range of interventions can provide significantly greater benefits than implementing a single intervention in isolation:

• Infrastructure measures
• Infrastructure management measures
• Service provision
• Land use measures
• Pricing measures
• Information provision
• Attitude and behavioural change measures
• Enforcement measures

Implementation falls to a number of government and private organisations as well as the public. The primary organisations involved in implementation are:

• New Zealand Transport Agency
• Territorial authorities (District and City Councils)
• Canterbury Regional Council (Environment Canterbury)
• KiwiRail
• New Zealand Police
• Accident Compensation Corporation
• Ministry of Transport
• Ministry of Education
• Private individuals and businesses