April 09, 2018
Authority backs down over road signs
Former Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell has welcomed a compromise from Land Transport NZ over bilingual street signs
The agency had told Rotorua Lakes District Council it could not have a bilingual sign at the entrance to Rotorua, as signs on a rural/urban threshold had to be in English.
It now says it’s just speed signs which have to be in English, and it will work with the council on its proposed wording Haere Mai Ki Rotorua, New Zealand's First Bilingual City.
Mr Flavell says as local MP and Maori development minister he worked last year with the council on the bilingual towns proposal, and was surprised at the hitch over signage.
"Nobody raised it, certainly not with me or any other minister that I can recall, as being a major issue but having found a compromise, that’s good. It’s just sensible people take a considered view of the situation so we don’t get locked in and go back to the very beginning because some strides have been made in the last six to eight months of making this a reality and it will set the precedent for the rest of the country," he says.
Gisborne, Wairoa, Otaki and Wellington are also considering going bilingual.
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