By Simon Court, ACT MP and candidate for Kaipara ki Mahurangi
I’m a civil engineer by trade. Engineers are trained to solve problems.
When a road is overloaded, you build another route. When a community floods, you fix the stormwater system. When thousands of new homes are planned, you build the infrastructure first.
That’s common sense. Unfortunately, common sense has been missing from planning in the North-West for decades.
Successive governments have allowed housing to spread across Kumeû and Huapai without delivering the roads, flood protection and water infrastructure needed to support it. The result is what locals deal with every day - sitting in traffic on SH16, worrying about flooding, and wondering why nobody planned ahead.
State Highway 16 is the clearest example. Thousands more people use it every year, yet through-traffic is still squeezed through the middle of two growing townships on what is effectively yesterday’s road.
People don’t want another decade of studies, consultations and promises. They want the bypass built. The same goes for flood protection.
The 2023 floods showed what happens when development gets ahead of infrastructure. Now another major housing proposal has raised understandable concerns because people have seen what happens when the roads, pipes and stormwater aren’t in place first.
As an engineer, I’ve seen that good infrastructure and good environmental outcomes usually go together. Better stormwater systems, restored waterways and sensible flood management protect communities while making room for growth.
The obstacle isn’t engineering. It’s politics.
For too long, governments have made it too difficult to build the projects New Zealand needs. The RMA rewarded delay instead of delivery. Infrastructure funding relied on today’s ratepayers paying for tomorrow’s growth. Projects that should take years have taken decades.
That’s exactly what ACT is changing. We’re replacing the RMA so infrastructure can actually get built. We’re backing modern infrastructure funding so growth pays for growth instead of dumping the cost on existing ratepayers. And we’re making it easier to get on with projects instead of getting buried in process.
People tell me New Zealand is moving in the right direction. They’re also asking why it still takes so long to get anything built.
That’s where ACT makes a difference. Our role in Government is to keep pushing for practical reforms that get projects moving, remove unnecessary barriers, and make sure good ideas don’t spend years tied up in red tape.
The North-West shouldn’t be Auckland’s forgotten frontier.
With the right infrastructure, Kumeû and Huapai can become thriving town centres instead of traffic bottlenecks. Families should be spending evenings at home, not sitting on SH16. Businesses need certainty to invest. And when new houses are built, the roads and pipes should already be there.
That’s what unlocking New Zealand’s potential looks like.
The North-West has enormous potential. The only thing holding it back is politics. Let’s get on and build it.
