Hutt City Council has today approved its 10 Year Plan 2024-34 which has a primary focus on tackling generational under-investment in infrastructure.

The plan was passed unanimously at today’s Council meeting and maps out Council’s priorities, with a plan to invest just over $2.7 billion over the next ten years. Of this spend, 60% is in water services and 21% on transport. This includes funding for Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi (formerly RiverLink) - which will help transform our CBD’s relationship with our river, connect to a new Melling Station, and enable more residential and commercial development opportunities.

The 10 Year Plan includes a rates revenue increase of 16.9% (after growth) for the 2024/25 year. This equates to an average weekly increase of $10.81 per residential household.

Mayor Campbell Barry says setting the 10 Year Plan has been a challenging process as Council balanced financial constraints with the need to invest in vital infrastructure.

"Over the past few years we have focused on getting the basics right and investing in our city's future. We now find ourselves in a perfect storm where our infrastructure needs to be fixed, and the costs to do that work are increasing - all while our city continues to experience the pressures from growth.

"You told us you wanted us to invest in water and transport - that’s what we’re doing. Without this crucial investment over the next ten years, we put the building blocks of our city at risk.

"It brings us no joy to increase rates at a time where people and families across our city are finding their own budgets stretched. To help offset our rates increase we have gone line by line through the budget and made some tough decisions to find $38 million of savings."

Other measures adopted in the 10 Year Plan include:

• Free swimming at Council pools for under-10s when supervised by an adult with a Community Services Card. A targeted investment to remove the cost barrier of entry for children
• Additional funding of $2.8 million to address water leak repairs in 2024-25, and a further $1.5 million each year from 2025-26
• A capped $12 million investment to consider and potentially repair the dilapidated Petone Wharf.
• The introduction of paid parking on Petone's Jackson St and the Peel Carpark at Petone Library from 1 October.
• Changes to various Council fees and charges.
• Rollout of universal water meters

Mayor Barry was pleased with the significant number of public submissions on the 10 Year Plan.

"To receive 1770 submissions with a myriad of views on the future of our city was vital to refining and improving the 10 Year Plan . We listened and we made changes. Thank you to everyone who took the time to contribute."

The 10 Year Plan takes effect from 1 July 2024.

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