MEDIA RELEASE

4 November 2005

City 'future proofing' at first long-term planning meeting

Auckland City Councillors will be thinking about how Auckland could look in 30 to 50 years time when it meets next Thursday 10 November for the first of two long-term planning sessions.

Mayor of Auckland City Dick Hubbard says:

"We are 12 months into this term of governing New Zealand's largest city. Two things need to have a stronger emphasis in our planning process. The first is future proofing. I won't be around to see Auckland in 2055 but we have to look that far to charter a successful course for the city," he says.

"The second is working much more closely with our key stakeholders. In this long-term planning process you will see a much more collaborative approach from the city council."

The planning sessions will be conducted by the Council's Annual Plan Direction Setting Committee and chaired by Councillor Vern Walsh. He says he welcomes the information officers will be providing to the mayor and councillors so they can discuss priorities for the city.

"On the agenda for next week's meeting are reports from officers that will help set the city and council's strategic direction for the next 10 years."

"We are also starting to look at the city's budgets and the agenda includes information from officers on our current financial projections and work programmes. Two of the goals for next week are to begin to prioritise our various initiatives and look at different ways to increase our financial capacity.

"The result of this process will be a long-term council community plan (LTCCP) for Auckland city that's based on stakeholder input and which has a 30-50 year vision," says Mr Walsh.

The draft LTCCP will be released for the public's feedback in March 2006 and the final version will be released in June 2006.

The annual plan direction setting meeting is open to the public and media. It will be held in the Town Hall reception lounge Level 2, on Thursday 10 November starting at 9.30am.

Most of the agenda reports will be available on Auckland City's website from Saturday 5 November. The remainder will be online by Tuesday.

http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/members/committeemeetings/annualplan

ENDS

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