KiwiRail will build a train station almost half a kilometre away from a planned town centre south of Auckland, despite a developer\u2019s long-running campaign to locate it closer.<\/p>\n
The developer of Auranga \u2013 a\u00a0sustainability-focused township\u00a0being built near Drury \u2013 has been locked in a legal wrangle, opposing KiwiRail\u2019s preferred site which is 450m west of the proposed civic centre. According to Google maps, to takes 6 minutes to walk this distance.<\/p>\n
[In a judicial review](https:\/\/www.stuff.co.nz\/business\/127604433\/developer-of-south-auckland-city-heads-to-court-over-train-station-site), Auranga\u2019s owner Charles Ma challenged an August 2020 meeting where KiwiRail, Auckland Council and others discussed a location no longer directly opposed the town centre.<\/p>\n
The High Court has found that meeting was not open for judicial review, and that KiwiRail \u2013 as the funder and builder of the rail network \u2013 had the sole right to decide where the station should go.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe definition of \u2018Auckland transport system\u2019 does not include public infrastructure that is not owned by Auckland Council, or not owned by or under the control of Auckland Transport,\u201d said the court.<\/p>\n
Ma said the town centre element of Auranga \u2013 which will eventually have 3000 homes \u2013 was now on hold, as it would no longer be a sustainable development that people could access easily without a car.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the railway station is not there, people won\u2019t walk to the town centre, they\u2019ll say. \u2018I\u2019ll have to go take another bus or an Uber.\u2019 It\u2019s just not convenient,\u201d said Ma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KiwiRail will build a train station almost half a kilometre away from a planned town centre south of Auckland, despite a developer\u2019s long-running campaign to lo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t