Wellington City Council has voted in support of a Notice of Motion to start a process to amend its 2024-34 Long-term Plan, which may mean stopping the sale of its shareholding in Wellington International Airport Limited.

The Council owns a 34 percent shareholding in the airport. The Long-term Plan, which was adopted by the Council in June and came into force on 1 July, included selling the shares to fund the establishment of a new perpetual investment fund to help address investment and insurance risk.

Today’s decision means all current work on the airport share sale and perpetual investment fund establishment will cease.

Officers will bring back further advice to the Council on the process and timeline for the amendment process in November.

It will be for elected members to determine the Council’s preferred option and the capital programme reductions to be proposed and consulted on.

A full programme of community engagement will be undertaken, followed by oral hearings. After being deliberated by the Council, the amended Long-term Plan would be audited prior to final adoption by June 2025 which is when a final decision on whether the sale is included in the LTP will be made.

The Council voted against the element of the proposal that would have seen the Council’s Pouiwi (mana whenua representatives) excluded from the amendment process, agreeing today that this amendment process would be undertaken by the LTP Committee, as per the Council’s standard practice.

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