The Speed Limits Bylaw 2019 has been revoked and work on a new Speed Management Plan 2024-2027 for Queenstown Lakes has started this month.

Speed limits bylaws were previously used to set speed limits on all roads across the district except highways (where they were set by Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA)). 

The controversial 2019 bylaw reduced all 50km/h urban area speed limits in Queenstown Lakes to 40km/h.

The chance to revisit local speed limits is likely to receive significant interest - more than 67 percent of the 350 submitters opposed the blanket 40 km/h speed limit, describing it as everything from “sheer lunacy” to “patronising”, “unwarranted” to “ridiculous” and “frustrating”.

QLDC senior policy advisor Carrie Williams explained the revocation was “a housekeeping item”.

A new Waka Kotahi rule which came into force in May required all New Zealand speed limits to be migrated to the new National Speed Limit Register (NSLR), which makes the current bylaw redundant.

The current speed limits remain enforceable for now, Carrie said.

Early public engagement on QLDC’s Speed Management Plan 2024-2027 is expected in February and March next year and consultation will open in June.

The NSLR - the new legal instrument for setting speed limits - establishes an integrated speed management planning process by providing for a ‘whole of network’ approach.

To that end, QLDC’s Speed Management has been timed to take place alongside Waka Kotahi.

QLDC councillors agreed to revoke the bylaw, effective immediately, at Thursday’s (December 15) full council meeting.

PHOTO: Wānaka App