Greening the Frankton V8 Race

A proposal to Mayor Michael Redman and Hamilton City Council

With the onset of climate change and Peak Oil, the Green Party does not believe that current motoring patterns will be sustainable in the long term. Consequently, Green policy calls for priority to be given to the development of public transport and cycling infrastructure so that transport can remain affordable, and possible, for everyone.

It should not be surprising then that the Greens are not huge fans of motorsport such as V8 racing because it, usually, encourages behaviour we see as ultimately unsustainable and has a not-insignificant direct environmental impact. However, we recognise that many New Zealanders are fans and want a V8 Supercar street race to happen somewhere in the country. Furthermore we recognise that, in terms of traffic and cultural impact, Frankton is a far more suitable place for such an event than central Wellington or Auckland and that support for the race is very high in Hamilton.

With that all in mind, as Environment Spokesperson of the Green Party I call on the Hamilton City Council, as the key instigator of the Frankton V8 Supercar Race, to facilitate everything that can be done to mitigate the race weekend's environment and social impact.

I ask you to "green" the Frankton V8 Supercar Race through the following three strands of effort.

1. Carbon neutrality: firstly for the races themselves and then for the entire transport load caused by the event.

   The Green Party calls for HCC to plant trees, over and above those it already has planned for city beautification, in numbers sufficient to soak up the race weekend's total carbon emissions.

2. Exceeding resource consents: in the immediate sense this means adopting higher-level noise, oil and gas pollution and waste controls than are required to gain resource consent. Ultimately it should go much further, taking in measures such as permanent improvements to Hamilton's public transport infrastructure, waste water systems etc.

   The Green Party calls for HCC to facilitate processes that allow the race weekend to exceed the environmental standards required by the resource consent process and to review the event's ecological footprint and find as many ways as possible to reduce it.

3. Consciousness raising: if motorsport still wants to continue after motoring itself becomes less common, it has to start experimenting with bio-diesel and other fuels (one such example, at sea, can be seen at www.earthrace.net). Showcasing sustainable motoring technology at the V8 Race is a major opportunity to educate committed motorists about the challenges their preferred transport faces in future.

   The Green Party calls on HCC to tender for an alternative fuel race on the Frankton track before the main event and to take every opportunity to promote alternative fuels and hybrid technology over the race weekend.

Overall, I believe that the hosting of the V8 Supercar Race places a duty of care and fairness upon Hamilton City Council to counterbalance the event's promotion of fossil fuel-based motoring with some determined facilitation and promotion of sustainable transport.

Thanks for your consideration