It’s always busy at this time of year but there’s an extra lot happening right now! Talk Wellington tries to keep up with this roundup, and please add things we’ve missed…

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By the way, we highly recommend Greater Auckland’s weekly roundup, always featuring lots of nationally-relevant stuff as well as Tāmaki-Makaurau things.

• Māori customary title is confirmed for stretches of the Wairarapa coast 
• A sewer pipe rupture in Porirua sends raw poo into the Porirua Stream, Kenepuru Stream and Onepoto Harbour (with sources telling TW that a precursor leak to this one was flagged years ago)
• Shelly Play sees a long stretch of spectacular coastal road thronged with people on foot, bikes, scooters, wheelchairs, mobility scooters, pushchairs and more

• Bus boardings across the Wellington region reach an all-time high, then promptly break that record 

• Hutt Valley folks haven’t been getting proper fluoridation of their water for months  

• The costs double for upgrading the water-treatment plant at Te Marua, while the  infrequent downpours of El Niño don’t fill things up  

• Flash new playspaces at Frank Kitts/Te Aro Mahana and Botanic gardens/ki Paekākā are open for play again!

• GW drops prosecution of Transmission Gully contractors for sediment spills into the already vulnerable and precious Te Awarua o Porirua harbour, in favour of a “more effective” option

• The Minister for Infrastructure will be final arbiter of district plan changes where Independent Hearing Panels and councils disagree, setting a strongly pro-housing tone in a Cabinet paper and speech (a helpful breakdown here)
• Te Awakairangi locals welcome anyone getting despondent about Wellington having more homes anytime soon

• The saga of the Reading Cinema (now with additional players) keeps illustrating the complexities, big sums, information asymmetries, diverging incentives and “rock and a hard place“ scenarios typical to inner city revitalisation. Councillors’ blogs (Why I didn’t vote against, and Why I voted against) and a facts roundup

• Wellington apartment owners join forces to find better insurance options 

• New Transport Minister releases for consultation the draft Government Policy Statement on Transport (which sets out the major spending and policy direction that Waka Kotahi must execute). It’s a big shift, including bad news for sustainable and active travel (and micro-manages local government “partners”), promises lots of new highways and a special pothole fund, will make the driving experience worse in cities, and is significantly unfunded  
  • PSA: You can show up to the Transport For Life rally if you want to take a stand and demand better.
  • Talk Wellington will have submission guidance before the consultation window closes (2 April) – get in touch if you’d like to help! (For extra power points, write pronto to your councillors about your concerns: councils will all be writing their submissions now and central government will listen most to them.)

• The Transport Minister tries to renege on National’s campaign-promise that a second Mt Victoria tunnel would include access for people

• Wellington City hums with the Arts Festival, Fringe, and suburb festivals highlighting all sorts of goodness that we must nourish  

• Amalgamation is also back on the table, though a quick search for [amalgamation Wellington] shows how long it’s been talked of 
• Riverlink’s stopbank works proceed despite question marks hanging over the larger project

• Movin’ March is going off across the region – check out amazing photos and videos

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