Ms Joan Swift:

I think so. We would like the high-level report to be available before the end of quarter four. As Mr. Waide said, the sooner it happens, the better. On the other hand, we understand there must be research, agreement and so on. There is no point in just barrelling through.

I will briefly mention a point relating to the local authorities and the reserve function versus the national function. I am on our public participation network and sit on the infrastructure committee. I remember when questions of revising speed limits came up, our director of services said it was an incredibly onerous process because there are so many roads. It would require the resources of the engineers. Our director of services would say that those engineers would not be doing other things because they would be spending all their time on the speed limits. I know local authorities are understandably jealous of the functions of their foreign counterparts because they have so few. By comparison with other countries, we are very centralised. On the other hand, it is demanding on the executive and the engineers because we have a dense road network. Perhaps local authorities might welcome a suggestion of a speed limit that applies to every road in a particular area because they would not have to agonise street by street. Instead, looking at the exceptions would be a simpler process.