Port Waikato will now be included in Auckland’s Alert Level 3 border, meaning residents won’t have to drive 90 minutes to get their shopping.
Local MP Andrew Bayly confirmed the news with the Minister of Police Poto Williams late last night.
“This means you can go to work and supermarket in Tūākau/Pukekohe. A much better outcome,” the National MP said in a Facebook post .
In Auckland’s previous move to Alert Level 3 earlier this month, Port Waikato residents said they were left feeling forgotten and confused after road blocks left them isolated despite being in Level 2.
The placement of a roadblock at the Klondyke Rd-Tuakau Bridge-Port Waikato Rd intersection left residents with a choice of driving 90 minutes down a “dangerous” single-lane gravel road, or shopping at a small local dairy, with limited essentials and no medicine.
Instead of a 10 minute trip to neighbouring Tuakau, locals are faced with a 1 hour 30 trek to Te Kauwhata.
The situation led Waikato District Mayor Allan Sanson to call for Port Waikato to be included in Auckland’s Alert Level 3 so they could make the 30-minute drive to Tūākau or Pokeno, which had been included in Auckland’s border.
About 500 people live in Port Waikato.
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