Councillor’s views

Thomas Nash (letters, Dec 1) does a disservice to the Green movement, to Wellington citizens and also to well-regarded previous mayor Kerry Prendergast.

What has outraged Nash is that the former mayor has drawn attention to the important role that automobiles and goods vehicles play in the economy of Wellingtonn and criticised a favoured Green Party policy – light rail, which the Greens imagine will solve the city’s traffic problems.

Evidently Prendergast’s view that bus fares be waived, and that ‘‘riding will never appeal to 80+ per cent of the population’’, were beyond the pale.

Nash surprisingly avoided any mention of the typical downsides of LR – such as eye-watering build costs, lengthy time (1-2 decades), massive cost overruns, huge concrete and steel emission footprint, severely limited route options and transfer requirements between trains.

He also forgot to mention the fact that LR unsurprisingly ‘‘has the lowest cost-benefit ratio’’ of the three options evaluated by the LGWM study and cost (‘‘5 times the next most expensive option’’).

Given his role as a Greater Wellington regional councillor one would be entitled to expect that Nash discharge his duties to the Wellington public in a more evenhanded manner.

Brian Fowler, Southgate