Wellington Mayor Andy Foster is delighted that the draft 2021-31 Long-term Plan is out for consultation.
“This draft is ambitious, and it centres on the much-needed investment in our infrastructure that our city has been
crying out for, and on solving resilience issues,” he explains. “It is investment we need to underpin a modern, dynamic,
creative, sustainable city.
“The capital programme is our largest to date, representing a $400 million greater investment than our last Long-term
Plan, and this in turn will increase Council debt levels. This does not include the additional $580 million off-balance
sheet responses for funding sludge treatment and city housing.
“We are proposing to lift our debt limit from the current 175% of debt to revenue to 225%. We consider this a prudent
level because we must maintain borrowing headroom for known but currently unbudgeted investment needs, and for events
that are unexpected, such as an earthquake or pandemic.”
This plan sets the direction for the next 10 years, outlines what will be invested in, how much it may cost and how it
will be funded. It provides guidance on how Council will make Wellington an even better place to live, work, play and
visit as we go into the future.
The plan asks Wellingtonians for feedback on seven key areas:Investment in Council’s three waters infrastructureWastewater laterals (the pipes connecting property to the water main underneath the road corridor)Funding for cycleway networksHow to fund our commitment to reducing emissions through Te Atakura – First to ZeroTe Ngākau Civic Square funding for future work, especially on the Municipal Office Buildings and Civic Administration
BuildingHow we will fund the repair and upgrade of the Central LibraryHow we will reduce our dependence on pumping sludge across the city to the landfill and reduce the amount of waste going
to the landfill.
Meeting the preferred options in the plan will require an average rates increase of 13.5% in the first year, and an
average of 9.9% over the first three years. This equates to an average rates increase of 5.3% (after growth) across the
10 years of the plan.
The Office of the Auditor General has given a qualified opinion on the draft consultation document, which relates to
uncertainty around the condition of our water infrastructure and also around the sustainability of city housing
solutions.
These issues don’t come as any surprise to Mayor Foster. “We have known for some time that solutions are needed for the
financial sustainability of our city housing programme, and the lack of knowledge around infrastructure was identified
by the 3 Waters Mayoral Taskforce,” he adds. “The budget provides for Wellington Water to address this through an
enhanced condition assessment programme.”
Deputy Mayor Sarah Free encourages people to come and talk about the major issues facing our city. “We have a number of
opportunities for Wellingtonians to give us feedback in person, including two expos at Te Papa and a series of community
pop-up events,” she says. “The more people we speak to, the better informed the final plan will be, and the better
equipped Wellington will be to meet the demands of the next 10 years.”
The schedule is available on the Let’s Talk Wellington website: https://www.letstalk.wellington.govt.nz/hub-page/long-term-plan
It's important that Wellingtonians have their say on these proposals. People can have their say from 6 April to 10 May
in a number of ways:Make an online submission at www.letstalk.wellington.govt.nzDownload a submission form from the website and email it to policy.submission@wcc.govt.nzFill in the submission form and send it to (freepost):
Freepost 2199
Long-term Plan
PO Box 2199
Wellington 6140Drop off a completed submission form to Arapaki Manners Service Centre at 12 Manners Street or at any libraryMake an oral submission.