20 September 2019
Aurélien de la Schlucht
[email address]
[email address]
[FYI request #11111 email]
Dear Aurélien
Thank you for your requests made under the Local Government Official Information and
Meetings Act 1987 (the Act), received on 11 August 2019 (IRO 8874), 1 September 2019
(IRO 8995) and 15 September 2019 (IRO 8995). We believe that the information provided
to you will be in scope and will cover period 1 January 2017 to current date (20 September
2019).
You requested the following information:
Your request from 11 August 2019:
Please supply all of these since 1 January 2017 for Wakely Track:
1. meetings including minutes and participants - for any WCC people below senior level
feel free to list a senior person who they report to instead
2. plans
3. tenders
4. quotes
5. contracts
6. communication
7. phone calls (numbers, participants, date, time, duration, documentation)
8. work progress reports
9. a calendar with all business days marked as either:
9.1. status unknown
9.2. work not started
9.3. work being done
9.4. process related waiting (e.g. for concrete to cure)
9.5. waiting for contractors to return
10. Who are the contractors working on the track this year? How was each company
chosen?
11. (Additional Question): What work exactly is left to do? Again please include things to do
on the ground as well as its management. Please provide a complete list, along with
precise plans as to who is tasked with it and what the expected date of finishing it is.
Please provide a complete list of dependencies between items of work.
12. For background, rumour has it that since September 2017. As these are no more than
rumours, can you please confirm or deny each of the below?
12.1. WCC went back on its decision to pave Wakely
12.2. The electricity company which runs the power lines along it graded the track,
according to a worker on site
12.3. WCC decided to gravel the track
13. How was the decision made at the time to leave the track as is?
14. How was the decision made to gravel the track, rather than paving it, or leaving it?
15. Is any signage or other communication planned to inform people of their new transport
choice? -
15.1.
If so, what in detail?
15.2.
If not, why not?
16. What is the goal under which WCC is doing this upgrade?
17. How was the goal determined?
18. What was the projected construction cost for the gravel option?
19. What's the projected annual maintenance cost for the gravel option?
20. What was the initially projected construction time for the gravel option?
21. Are you expecting that the projected costs will be the actual cost? If not, why not?
22. What was the projected construction cost for the tar seal option?
23. What's the projected annual maintenance cost for the tar seal option?
24. What was the projected construction time for the tar seal option?
25. Please include sources, reasons, meeting minutes etc for all of the above.
26. At some point the signs at the track ends said it'd be done in May 2019. Then they
were stickered over, replacing May with July. How did this come about? Again please
includes reasons, communication, etc pp.
27. What is the current projected opening day?
28. How has this been determined?
29. What risks exist for this? Please list with probability and impact.
30. Is an opening celebration planned? If so, how are you going to advertise it?
Your request from 1 September 2019:
31. Please provide a progress report for the work on Wakely Track for anything that
happened within the second half of August 2019, i.e. 17 to 31 August inclusive.
32. Please include updates regarding both work on the ground, and all and any paperwork,
such as communication with contractors, commissioning of any reports, etc.
33. Please report what work was done on the ground on which day.
34. What work exactly is left to do? Again please include things to do on the ground as well
as its management. Please provide a complete list, along with precise plans as to who
is tasked with it and what the expected date of finishing it is. Please provide a complete
list of dependencies between items of work.
35. What is the expected opening date?
Your request from 15 September 2019:
36. Please include updates regarding both work on the ground, and all and any paperwork,
such as communication with contractors, commissioning of any reports, etc.
37. Please report what work was done on the ground on which day.
38. What work exactly is left to do? Again please include things to do on the ground as well
as its management. Please provide a complete list, along with precise plans as to who
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is tasked with it and what the expected date of finishing it is. Please provide a complete
list of dependencies between items of work.
39. There are tons of rocks and gravel stored by the top of the track. What is this for, and
what's the timeline for the work related to that?
40. The rumour mill has it that no work was done at all on this track in the week from 9 to
15 September. Is this true? If so, what are the exact reasons?
41. What is the expected opening date?
To respond to your questions I have grouped them together as the information is across
multiple questions.
Plans - Questions 2:
Item
Date
Document name/description
Decision
1.
30 January 2018
17-2584 Wakely Road – Shared Path
Release
UPDATED FINAL DRAWINGS
Goals for Cycleways – Questions 16, 17:
Under the Council’s Cycleways Programme Master Plan and Cycling Framework was
approved by City Councillors. It is a guide for the Council to deliver the new cycling
infrastructure to best meet the community needs.
The goal is to:
Reduce congestion;
give people more transport choice;
provide easy access into and around the central city.
Additional information regarding the Council’s Cycleways Programme Master Plan and
Cycling Framework can be found on this lin
k https://wellington.govt.nz/services/parking-
and-roads/cycling/cycling-master-plan-and-framework
Signage – delays and impact – Questions 6, 15, 26 and 29:
To inform members of the public on what work was taking place, a transport project
website was developed and physical signs were created. Unfortunately due to unforeseen
circumstances (weather and contractor availability) has delayed the completion of the
work. The physical sign was updated to advise that it was extended until July 2019
however further work still needs to take place.
The Council will have new signage going up the week starting 16 September 2019 via the
transport project website, and media outlets. The track will be open to people biking uphill
and people walking at all times, care should be taken around the work site. People biking
downhill (due to potential speed) will only be able to use the track outside of the
contractor’s working hours which is from Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm and some
potentially some Saturdays.
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We will be advising members of the public that they can use the track and that there will be
some restrictions while the drainage work is being finished until the end of November. We
expect the paving work to happen before Christmas and the track may need to be closed
again for a short period of time while this work takes place.
Rumours – Questions 12-14 and 40:
In regards to the rumours that have been around since September 2017 regarding the
Wakely Track:
To pave a track, gravel must be placed first to build the foundations of the track.
This needs to be done before any track can be sealed It was always the Council’s
intention to pave the track, initially the Council looked at paving with recycled
tarseal (from road milling work elsewhere) however due to budget constraint it was
decided to only use gravel until a viable solution was sought. A decision has now
been made to pave using fine chip seal.
In regards to the powerlines, Wellington Electricity had to upgrade their poles and
overhead wires, before we could start work on the track. They have now completed
their work.
In regards to no working being completed from 9th to 15th September, this is true,
the contractor’s staff who was working on this, was on leave.
Opening Day – Questions 27, 28, 30, 35 and 41:
It is estimated that the contractor may finish before Christmas; however a set date has not
been determined for an opening day. At this point in time, we have not confirmed any
plans for an opening celebration or determined how to advertise an open day.
Wakley Track Project Updates – 8, 10, 11, 21, 31 - 34 and 36 – 39:
The Project was first priced in an excess of $1million dollars which exceeded the available
budget, the Council then went out to tender for all contractors to reprice and again the
prices presented to the Council exceeded the available budget. The project was then
broken down into smaller projects which we have outlined below. The Council has settled
on an agreed price with the contractors. This means that if there is any delay or if they
make a mistake and need to fix it, it will be at no additional cost to the tax payer. The
Council expected the projected costs will be the same or similar as the actual cost within
the allowed contingencies.
The rocks/gravel stored by the top of the track is to fill the gabion baskets for the work
related to the rip rap drainage. As per the below table G&S Limited is currently in the
progress of getting this work completed by November.
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Wakely Track - Progress Outline
Detail of
Contractor
Started Date
Finished Date
Status
Work
Fencing Work
Taylor Fencing
7 February
12 April 2019
Completed
Limited
2019
Concrete
G&S Civil
15 April 2019
18 July 2019
Completed
Spillways and
Limited
Baskets
Clean Up
G&S Civil
22 July 2019
26 July 2019
Completed
Storm
Limited
Damage
Rip Rap
G&S Civil
29 August
November
In
Drainage
Limited
(Estimate finish) Progress
Paving/sealing G&S Civil
December
December
Yet to start
Track
Limited
(Estimate finish)
Your request for email communication between the Council and Contractor has been
withheld under section 17(f) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act
1987, cannot be made available without substantial collation or research. The team is
happy to meet with you to discuss to be able to understand what information you are
looking for.
Your request for progress reports has been declined under section 17(g) of the Local
Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 as the information is not held by
the local authority. However we have created a progress outline of each of the smaller
project, the contractor assigned, the status and starts and end date.
Projected Construction and Maintenance – Questions 18 – 20 and 22 – 25:
The projected construction cost for the gravel track including track preparation that was
carried out regardless of the final surface finishing was $75k. The projected estimated
cost for annual maintenance for the gravel track would range from $10 - 20k. Construction
for the gravel track has been completed however, sealing the track won’t be completed
until December. It will take about 1 week of good weather to finish sealing the track.
Commercially Sensitive Information – Questions 3-5:
The Council has withheld this information under section 7(2)(h) protects information where
it is necessary to enable the agency that holds it to carry out commercial activities without
prejudice or disadvantage.
Information not held by local authority – Questions 1, 7 and 9:
The Council does not hold the above information, under section 17(g) of the Local
Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 this part of your request is
declined as the information is not held by the local authority.
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Future Communication
You are welcome to contact Paul Barker the Network Improvements Manager, who is
happy to meet with you and discuss the progress of Wakely Track and to discuss how the
Council can do things better. You can email him on
[email address] If you disagree with my decision you have the right, under section 27(3) of the Act to ask
the Ombudsman to review and investigate my decision. Further information is available on
the Ombudsman website
, www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
Thank you again for your request. I trust this information is of assistance to you.
Regards,
Asha Harry
Assurance Advisor
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