What is a traffic resolution
A traffic resolution (TR) is a formal and legally enforceable restriction applied to roads and Council-owned carparks in accordance with the Traffic and Parking Bylaw 2021.
Examples include:
- No stopping at all times (broken yellow lines)
- Parking restrictions (such as P10, Metered Parking, Mobility Parking and Loading zone)
- Give way/stop-controlled intersections
- Speed limits
- Bus lanes and clearways.
The traffic resolution process is carried out by Council officers to:
- find a solution to a traffic or parking issue
- improve safety within the roading corridor
- add/remove a restriction, or
- make changes to an existing stretch of roadway.
When a request for any of these changes is made, it must go through the traffic resolution process, which may result in the restriction being approved by a relevant Council committee. Traffic resolutions may be part of a larger transport project or as part of a minor operational change.
The traffic resolution process can take several months and is a process that ends with the proposed changes being voted on by a relevant Council committee.
Traffic resolution process
This process includes the following steps:
- Initial request received
- Investigation carried out by Council Officers
- Prepare the report
- Public consultation
- Feedback review.
Initial request
The process begins with an initial request being received by Council officers. This request can come from a number of different places, such as members of the public, elected members, Council officers, or from Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC).
Council officers will assess and investigate the request to check its feasibility. They will then determine whether the proposed change is suitable to proceed to the next stage of the traffic resolution process. Any changes involving parking will also be reviewed in accordance with the Council’s Parking Policy, adopted in 2020.
Depending on the type of change requested, there may be additional, specific processes/procedures to follow as part of the request process, such as showing evidence of community support for the change, and gathering other data such as crash, safety, and usage data.
For example, see the specific processes for getting yellow lines installed.
To make a request yourself or to request further information as to how to get your request actioned, email info@wcc.govt.nz or lodge a request through our FIXiT form.
Preparing the report
If Council officers determine that a request can be actioned, the traffic resolution report will be prepared. The traffic resolution report will include:
- information on why we're proposing this change
- description of the impact that this change would have on the public if implemented (for example: pedestrian impact, parking loss/gain)
- a map outlining the proposed changes, and
- legal descriptions of the proposed changes.
See an example of a traffic resolution report (625KB PDF).
Public consultation
This next stage of the traffic resolution process is the most important, as it is where we consult with the public, giving the community the opportunity to provide feedback. Ahead of the consultation period, residents and businesses in the area affected by the proposed changes will receive a letter detailing the proposal.
The public consultation period follows a similar structure each time:
Pre-consultation
Depending on the project, the Council officer in charge may choose to carry out a ‘pre-consultation process’, prior to the official public consultation period. This typically involves a letter-drop to affected residences and businesses, giving members of the public the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed changes, prior to public consultation.
This process allows Council officers the opportunity to change/amend the plan to more accurately reflect the needs of the community, prior to the traffic resolution going out for public consultation.
If you're one of the affected residents, please make sure to leave your feedback within the dates provided on the pre-consultation letter-drop form, to ensure that the Council officer has sufficient time to review all feedback.
Elected member and stakeholder review
Prior to traffic resolutions being sent out to the public, they're sent out to elected members for the affected wards and community stakeholders, such as community boards, residents associations, and business associations. This allows them to thoroughly review the changes and think about how they may affect their communities prior to public consultation.
Letter drop
A few days before the public feedback period begins, traffic resolution letters are delivered to nearby residences and businesses to notify them of the proposed changes and provide information on how to submit feedback.
Feedback period
This is the part of the process where you can get involved and have your voice heard. The proposed traffic resolutions will be publicly available on our Let's Talk website.
There are three ways that you can make a written submission:
1. Let’s Talk website: A survey will be available on our Let's Talk website where you can leave feedback.
2. Email: You can leave feedback over email. Email your feedback to trfeedback@wcc.govt.nz, or to the relevant email address as listed on the traffic resolution report or on our Let’s Talk website.
3. Written feedback: You also have the option to hand in or mail in written feedback, either printed or handwritten, to our Council offices. Make sure that all feedback is received within the consultation period, and that you leave feedback using of the 3 ways available, to ensure that your feedback is counted and is presented to the committee.
Privacy
Submissions including your name and opinions are published and made available to Wellington City Council elected members, pouiwi (Mana Whenua Representative) and the public from our offices as a hardcopy (on request only) and on our website. Councillors/elected members may wish to contact you about your submission. We'll contact you first to obtain your permission to pass on your contact details to them. Contact information will be used for the administration of the consultation process. For example, informing you on the outcome of the consultation or contacting you to arrange an oral submission.
Relevant staff will have access to submissions in their capacity as Council employees.
Except for your name, personal details like contact information and demographic information will be redacted prior to publishing. Please note that you should not include any personal information in the free text fields of this survey if you do not wish it to be made public.
For further details around privacy please see our Let's Talk privacy statement and extended Wellington City Council privacy statement. All information collected will be held by Wellington City Council in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020. You have a right to ask for a copy of any personal information we hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if you think it is wrong.
Feedback review
Once the consultation period has closed, our team will collate and analyse the feedback. This allows the authors of their respective traffic resolutions to see if there are any common themes to the feedback, and where changes can be made, if necessary, prior to presenting these to the relevant committee. Officers may decide to withdraw or defer their traffic resolutions, if the feedback has brought anything to their attention that requires further investigation.
The final traffic resolutions, incorporating submitter feedback, will be compiled into a report recommended for approval by Council Officers and presented to elected members for their consideration and vote.
Committee presentation
The day of the relevant committee meeting is the day that individuals and organisations have the opportunity to make an oral submission, after which point elected members will conduct their vote on the individual traffic resolutions.
The first part of the meeting is dedicated to public participation. If you wish to make an oral submission for one or more traffic resolutions, email public.participation@wcc.govt.nz to register your interest, by at least midday the day prior to the relevant meeting.
After the public participation portion of the meeting, elected members will move into debate, where they will discuss, ask Council Officers questions, and then vote on all traffic resolutions. They may choose to make amendments to any of the traffic resolutions based on public feedback.
Any member of the public can come and watch the meeting in person, or alternatively the live stream and recording will be available online on our YouTube channel.
Post meeting implementation
All traffic resolutions successfully passed at the relevant meeting aim to be installed within approximately 6 months. However, depending on the scope of the project this period may be longer or shorter.
To view past decisions, and to check on the progress of past traffic resolutions, see: Council meetings decision register.