Subscribe to RSSARC Staff Face Long Transition
There is angst among some ARC staff this morning after a memo from the Auckland Transition Agency yesterday that the new Auckland Transport CCO headquarters will be in Henderson.
It will be housed in the existing Waitakere City Council building, next to the Henderson railway station.
The paragraph in the letter which has incensed the most says:
“The current Auckland Regional Council office in Pitt St (which also houses ARTA) will be “largely surplus to requirements.”
“However, some space will be retained for the MAXX (transport) call centre, civil defence emergency headquarters, and legacy finance and IT systems.”
ARC building tossed aside as "surplus to requirements"
The memo from Auckland Transition interim chief Mark Ford says:
- Auckland’s new council will be in the existing Greys Ave council building
- The Mayor will use the Town Hall
- Policy and planning will work out of the North Shore council building
- IT to be housed in the Manukau building
Waitakere council HQ becomes home to Auckland Transport
This week, Local Government Minister Rodney Hide boasted that the Royal Commission had estimated the cost of their proposed reforms to be between $120-$240 million, but the transition costs are now expected to be $94 million at 1 November.
He added that the Royal Commission had projected the transition to take four years, but the transition will now be completed in “well under half that time.”
No wonder when you say central city buildings that have served staff and Auckland well over the years become surplus to requirements and staff lives are disrupted by having to find means to work in another part of the city.
Emails to this site from ARC staff make it clear they are very unhappy.
Auckland Transport HQ will at least be next to the Henderson train station
The only plus is that whoever is chosen to run Auckland Transport will see trains outside their office window.
Let’s hope the idea of public transport never leaves their vision!
2 Comments
It’s not a bad idea. As we become to one city, its good to spread things out
Good and bad here. Of course concentrating everything in the Auckland CBD would have caused (well understandable) howls of protest. And I love having Auckland Transport in Henderson, even though it’s further away (but will be so easily accessible by train, once we have the reliability issue fixed!).
But I kinda wonder how integrated the Council will be if it is so scattered geographically, that even during off-peak, it will take you half an hour or longer to get to the people you may have to meet to sort a project.