Chloe Swarbrick talks to North Shore Times reporter Emily Ford about her plans for Auckland's North Shore if she becomes mayor.

Chloe Swarbrick has thrown her support behind a controversial suggestion that bicycle helmets should not be mandatory.



The 22-year-old Auckland mayoral candidate discussed the idea in a North Shore Times live-streamed chat on Facebook on September 30.



Swarbrick discussed her vision for the Shore in the chat, including plans for transport, housing, and the arts.



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TRANSPORT

ALASTAIR LYNN/FAIRFAX NZ At 22 years old, Chloe Swarbrick is the youngest Auckland mayoralty candidate by a long shot.

She says she wants to remove mandatory helmet laws to encourage more people to start cycling, and would look to build safe infrastructure, like boarded lanes, to allow for this.

"It sounds like an extremely controversial reason for doing so, but I know the only thing that will increase safety is to increase the uptake," Swarbrick says.

"People are less inclined to get on their bikes wearing a helmet."

Her comments come as part of her plan to create a bicycle-sharing system where bikes are made publicly available for short trips, and cycleways which link up across Auckland, including connecting to the Harbour Bridge SkyPath crossing.

People would also use the shared-cycles system to get to and from bus stations, which would help to eliminate dependence on vehicles and parking shortages at park and rides.

"I think the real solution is looking at the likes of premium and brilliantly operated feeder services."

Swarbrick also says she is a huge proponent for rail to Shore, and will wait to see a business case for heavy and light rail before committing to a plan.

HOUSING

Swarbrick plans to address leaky building problems and says she wants to ensure it doesn't happen again.

"I'm quite concerned by some of those things with regards to stripping the red tape.

"I don't think that's something that needs to happen when you're looking at builder consents."

She says more transparency is needed on the consumer side of things.

"What that does is allow us to pinpoint where the failings are instead of stripping back layers of protection to ensure the building is built correctly."

ARTS

She says she hopes to engage Auckland artists in their communities to add local touches to artefacts like bus stops and signage.

"We need to be encouraging local people to create those. In doing so we create an identity and with that comes a sense of belonging.

"It's a huge part of local procurement for local people to be creating objects that appear in their vicinity."