Source: Radio New Zealand
John Hansford doesn’t want to leave the garden and home where he’s lived for 50 years. RNZ / Erin Johnson
Uncertainty hangs over residents on the route of Auckland’s next rapid transit project.
A brick and tile house on Puhinui Road, Papatoetoe, has been John Hansford’s home for more than 50 years. It’s where he and his wife raised their children and two grandchildren.
Hansford’s home is one of 630 properties that could be impacted by the airport to Botany rapid transit project, which includes road widening for a dedicated busway, and walking and cycleways.
Route protection has been confirmed over 15km from the airport precinct, through Papatoetoe, Manukau, and East Auckland.
An as-yet unidentified number of houses will be removed to make way for the works, but Hansford doesn’t want to leave.
“Look at the garden, I mean, that’s why I live here… that’s why I don’t move. I’m 76 now, so I don’t really want to move.”
Which properties will be required will be confirmed once the detailed design is done.
Puhinui Road, Papatoetoe, is on the protected route for Auckland’s next rapid transit project. RNZ / Erin Johnson
However, the design and construction stages of the full busway project are not yet funded, and Auckland Transport said it won’t seek funding until 2028.
The drawn-out process is an “aggravation” that Hansford said he doesn’t need.
“This started in 2021, it’s five years, [it] ain’t doing my health any good.”
When the affected properties are eventually identified, Auckland Transport will buy them under the Public Works Act.
But Hansford doesn’t trust the payout will be enough for him to find somewhere else in the area.
“When you’ve lived here for more than 50 years… where would you go from here?
“There’s nothing around Papatoetoe that I could afford these days.”
When Heather Haylock and her husband moved into their bungalow on Puhinui Rd 29 years ago, it still had an outside toilet.
Heather Haylock has lived on Puhinui Road for nearly 30 years, and is considering taking the whole house when she moves on. RNZ / Erin Johnson
As their family grew, they made improvements, planted trees, and buried pets in the garden.
A children’s author, Haylock works out of a dedicated “writing lair” her husband built in the backyard.
Despite the deep connections, Haylock said they’ve decided they’ll move on in a few years, and they’re not ruling out taking the whole house, including the writing room. However, she’s worried the route protection will affect their property’s value.
“We’re a bit concerned about the resale and how that will go.”
Haylock said when they first received a letter from Auckland Transport inviting them to a one-on-one meeting, they went along thinking only a few metres of their property would be needed.
“But we found out right at the end when we said, ‘So how much of our property is actually affected?’ And they said, ‘Oh, we want the whole thing.’ So that was a real shock.”
Then, they asked to see a map of the entire route.
“They said that they weren’t able to show us that because they could only talk to us about our land and not about how it would impact anybody else’s land.”
The Haylocks went door-knocking up and down the road, “trying to look at everybody else’s letters to make our own map”.
The confirmed route for the Airport to Botany rapid transit project. Supplied / Auckland Transport
In 2023, with a background in town planning, Haylock made a 20,000-word submission to the independent commissioners hearing concerns about the project.
“We knew that more than likely we wouldn’t still be here when it went through, but it was more the people who were left behind that we were more concerned about.
“The only people who were actually given a letter to say anything was happening were the people whose properties would be bought under the Public Works Act.
“People like across the road and the neighbours at the back, who will have a huge bridge going through, overshadowing them, weren’t deemed to be affected, because their properties weren’t being bought, so they weren’t consulted at all.”
She was also concerned about the impact on those who would only have part of their property bought.
At the end of the hearing process, the commissioners put out their recommendations, which Haylock felt would help the community.
“But Auckland Transport, as a designating authority, doesn’t actually need to take on board anything that the independent commissioners said.
“So it really did feel like we were going through a process for nothing.”
After Auckland Transport and NZTA lodged their decisions on the project route with the Auckland Council in February 2024, 13 appeals were made to the Environment Court by organisations including Auckland International Airport, Auckland University of Technology, Mitre 10, Z Energy, and the body corporate for an apartment building.
While no individual residents lodged appeals, Hansford considered it, but was put off by the cost.
“It was going to cost me $600 to get to put my application in, as far as I know.”
The appeals have all been resolved, and the designations on properties that protect the route will last 15 years.
According to AT, the next stage of the project is to make “interim” improvements to the Airport Link bus service, extending it through to Botany from its current endpoint in Manukau.
This stage is funded, with a budget of $52 million, and work is expected to take place in 2028, but won’t require any property removals, AT said.
The wider project is listed for the Fast-track consenting process.
However, Auckland Transport said a move to consenting requires detailed design, so it would need funding.
“As the project is unfunded at this stage, no lodgement is currently being prepared.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
