The Howick Local Board has voted to walk back two pedestrian crossings on The Parade in Bucklands Beach that it had approved the previous year.
The reversal came through a Notice of Motion from Chair Bruce Kendall at the Board’s 26 March meeting, seeking to rescind parts of a September 2025 resolution on the Local Board Transport Capital Fund project The Parade Stage 2.
The Board resolved that it no longer supported a pedestrian crossing at Site 1, on Devon Road, or a crossing outside 41 The Parade.
It also asked Auckland Transport to investigate replacing a raised pedestrian safety island at the Devon Road intersection with broken yellow lines, a lower-cost option.
In the motion, Kendall expressed concern at the lack of scrutiny the original decision had received.
“Not all projects [last year] were examined in sufficient depth for every member to feel confident about the direction being set,” he wrote.
Kendall said there was “no clearly demonstrated need, strong safety data, nor evident community demand” for the project.
“My first principle for decision-making is simple: we should not spend public money or alter an area’s functionality for all users unless there is strong data supporting the need for change,” he wrote.
He also pointed to earlier litigation over traffic calming in the area.
“It is also relevant that the Council was previously taken to court over traffic calming measures on The Parade at Little Bucklands Beach, with the judge ruling in favour of the complainant,” Kendall wrote.
The motion also raised concerns about kerb build-outs constraining buses and boat-trailer parking, and about stormwater and flooding at the Devon Road corner.
The motion was co-signed by members Mike Turinsky, Luke Collings and Jack Collins.
The reversal was not unanimous.
Board member Damian Light, who had moved the original 2025 resolution that the motion partly undid, was the sole vote against both revocations.
Each of those two decisions carried 10 votes to one.
On the third resolution, which asked Auckland Transport to look at broken yellow lines instead of the safety island, Light was joined in opposition by Mike Turinsky, while Deputy Chair Kai Zeng abstained, and it carried eight votes to two.
The crossings were part of a larger package of works along The Parade funded through the Board’s transport capital fund.
The original September 2025 resolution had reallocated a saving of $160,614.26 across Cook Street and The Parade Stage 2, and had supported progressing four sites along The Parade.
Auckland Transport will investigate the broken yellow lines option at Devon Road and report back to the Board.
