Environment Left Out Of Road Report

Road-users who cause most damage to roads and the environment should pay the most, says Greens Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons.

Referring to the official McDermott Fairgray report leaked yesterday, Ms Fitzsimons says the Government's roading reforms have gone wrong because they are trying to make people pay just for living in rural areas, rather than for the wear and tear they cause on the roads and the environment.

Ms Fitzsimons, a member of Parliament's transport and environment select committee, says a year's work by the committee and 22 recommendations on road reforms, including environmental considerations, seem to have been ignored by ideologues in government.

"User pays is the right approach for sharing costs fairly according to weight and size of vehicle, how far it travels, type of fuel used, and contribution to global warming, air pollution and noise," she says.

"It's the wrong approach when it charges all the costs of maintaining a national roading network to people who live in the country."

The Government was now looking at ways of subsidising rural roads within a corporate structure which was inclined to close them, she says.

"It's a cynical attempt to protect National's traditional constituency in the provinces from the reality of corporatisation plans, at least until the next election," Ms Fitzsimons says.

"Corporatisation of roads will bring no benefit to the travelling public or the environment. It is not a suitable structure for a monopoly public-good activity. Road corporations will simply encourage more traffic in order to generate more profit.

"It is time to abandon this part of the roading reforms and get back to what really needs doing - establish a fair system of pricing that is consistent across petrol and diesel, makes those who cause the most damage to roads pay the most, and includes environmental costs."