Don't banish cars from central Blenheim, David Seymour has warned on a visit to Marlborough, weighing in on plans to revitalise the CBD.
The deputy prime minister and ACT leader was in town on Thursday to visit businesses, including Murphy’s New Zealand in Grovetown, and give speeches, first at a Marlborough Chamber of Commerce lunch and in the evening at a public meeting, with Local Democracy Reporting invited to attend.
When asked about his thoughts on work to revitalise central Blenheim, with Market St's makeover currently in the design phase, Seymour said Blenheim should avoid the mistakes of Auckland and Queenstown in limiting vehicle access.
"I think there’s a whole lot of cities that have made a big mistake trying to banish cars and banish parking from the CBD," Seymour said.
"If people can't drive to something, guess what? They can still drive to big box stores, they can still drive to shopping malls.
"I look at areas like Hurstmere Rd, Takapuna, totally dead as a result.
"I hope they don’t make the mistake of, you know, sacrificing Blenheim CBD to the war on cars."
Earlier in the evening Seymour spoke to a crowd at Marlborough Events Centre about reducing bureaucracy, cracking down on crime, reducing Government spending, and race-based politics, among other topics.
He gave his support to the two ACT candidates in Marlborough’s local body election, Marlborough Sounds ward candidate Malcolm Taylor and Blenheim ward candidate John Hyndman, who were both in the audience.
He said putting ACT candidates in local body elections around the country aimed to offer voters a candidate under a brand that they knew stood for lower rates, against race discrimination, and would "allow you to drive your car rather than be part of someone else’s transport fantasy".
Attendees were invited to ask questions, some garnering applause for their thoughts opposing publicly funded media, calling for a reduction in dairy and food prices, and supporting the refusal to recognise a Palestinian state.
A small group protesting that refusal, including Blenheim ward candidate Aimee Payne, had staged themselves outside the event, and at times their chanting could be heard from inside.
Seymour also tackled questions on coal reserves, digital driver licences, AI in education, the Gene Technology Bill, and the teaching of tikanga in law schools.
One attendee asked for greater accountability for judges who handed out "poor sentencing for violent crimes".
Seymour said there already were checks on judges’ decisions, through the appeals process.
"We can't interfere with the judges directly. That's the one thing that I think we should never do," Seymour said.
"You should always be able to have your day in court, in front of a judge who is independent, even if we don't always like the way they use their independence."
Blenheim ward candidate Nyara Nyajena asked Seymour about his position on the chlorination of Blenheim’s water supply, due to start this month. Water services regulator Taumata Arowai required councils to install residual disinfection of drinking water, and advised that chlorination was cheapest and easiest.
"As far as chlorine, that is way outside my pay grade," Seymour said.
Nyajena said the council was being forced to chlorinate the water by central government without community consultation.
"All I’d say is that I wasn’t aware that we're making the Blenheim council chlorine, no-one's ever raised that with before," Seymour said.
"But I will ask in Wellington why people on your council might be saying that. It certainly doesn't make a lot of sense to me."
Incumbent councillors Raylene Innes and Thelma Sowman were also in the audience and spoke with Seymour after the meeting ended.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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