Media release

Greater Wellington Regional Council

6 March 2014

Submissions opening for regional council’s Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 and integrated delivery of water services

Greater Wellington Regional Council is seeking your views about project and funding decisions outlined in its Draft Annual Plan 2014/15.

The draft Annual Plan outlines the work GWRC intends to carry out during the 2014/15 financial year, including in the regional leadership, public transport, water supply, environment, flood protection and parks sectors.

It also sets out the rates for the upcoming year, with council intending to raise rates by an average of $22 per year per household (about 43 cents per week) – or 6.1% - which is a significant drop from the 11.3% earmarked in the Long Term Plan.

To ensure that the right balance between rates and expenditure is met, the regional council is calling for submissions on a number of projects included on the plan, and the overall plan itself.

Regional Council Chair, Fran Wilde, said that while it’s business-as-usual in most areas, there are some particular areas of note.

“Public transport continues to be a major focus,” said Wilde. “While we are continuing to fund rail, bus and harbour ferry services, we’re also investing in more Matangi trains and we’re starting to implement the new Public Transport Operating Model which provides opportunities for new contracts with operators.

“In the next year we will also be working on implementation of the preferred option for the Public Transport Spine through Wellington city, starting with detailed design.”

Building resilience also continues to be a major focus of the regional council, said Wilde.

“A feasibility study on installing a cross-harbour water pipeline is planned for this year and we will be lifting the resilience of the region to flooding by continuing to develop and implement floodplain management plans across the region.”

Greater Wellington Regional Council is also seeking submissions for a proposal to combine water services across Wellington, Porirua and the Hutt Valley.

Options being considered involve integrating the Regional Council’s bulk water supply function with Capacity, introducing a new company name (proposed to be Wellington Water) to reflect its wider mandate, and establishing a water committee (made up of representatives from the five local councils which would be shareholders of the new company) to ensure that policy decisions remain the responsibility of elected representatives. The regional council would retain ownership of its bulk water infrastructure assets.

Submissions for the Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 and the integrated water proposal open on 24 March and close on 28 April. For more information or to make a submission, visitwww.gw.govt.nz/have-your-say, or write to:

Greater Wellington Regional Council
“Draft Annual Plan submissions 2014/15” and/or “Water Proposal”
Freepost 3156
PO Box 11646
Wellington 6142

ENDS

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