At the Greystones Municipal District meeting Councillor Derek Mitchell pressed strongly to get this road designed and built. ‘there are now 4 schools on it and the present footpaths are dangerous as they are too narrow in places. The new road with a proper footpath and cycletrack has been needed for a long time. This new road has been on the plans for 35 years and little has been done. I have been pressing for this to be built for many years and earlier voted against the Councils Capital Budget because it was not included. I am prepared to vote against the main budget unless money is included to progress the road. The officials have finally agreed to look for the money and all local Councillors agreed to support this’.

The engineer is to see how the footpaths can be made safer in interim. The developer of houses at Blacklion is obliged to open his section of the new road before houses are occupied. This section is expected to open in 2016 and will connect the top of Applewood Heights to the new schools.