Opportunities
for Regional Co-operation
New
requirements under recent changes to the Land Transport Management
Act is for road controlling authorities and Regional Councils to bid
for money from the National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) as a
region by submitting a Regional Land Transport Programme (RLTP) to
the NZ Transport Agency. Previously each local Council put in a
separate local bid. This is obviously not such a shift for Unitary
Authorities (Territorial Authorities that combine local and regional
councils into one body) who were already acting regionally. Regions
now more than ever need to decide what is important regionally in
terms of prioritisation of regional transport projects.
Working
regionally clearly has become even more important in the transport
sector. Sometimes the number of local authorities in each region
such as in Canterbury (9 Councils plus the Regional Council requires
10 Councils) can make this challenging.