More than 3000 submissions regarding water, insurance, investment, project spending, rates, fees and other charges were received by Wellington City Council during consultations last month.

The Council consulted on an amendment to the 2024-34 Long-term Plan, the Annual Plan and necessary water reform under Local Water Done Well legislation between 20 March and 21 April.

In total, 3002 submissions were received on the amendment and the Annual Plan, while 713 came in about Local Water Done Well reform.

Along with the submissions, close to 175 people, groups and organisations spoke at an oral hearing. The Council also surveyed a representative sample of 500 residents reflecting the demographic characteristics of Wellington.

When it came to water reform, 72 percent of submissions and 82 percent of survey participants supported the Council’s preferred options of a multi-council-owned water organisation. The most important factors cited for the delivery model were value for money and legal compliance.

Regarding the Long-term Plan amendment, over a third of respondents to both the consultation and the survey supported the preferred option of creating large debt headroom by making changes to capital spending valued at $385 million and establishing a small $68m investment fund using proceeds from the sale of nine ground leases.

Close to a quarter of respondents backed an alternative option of balancing borrowing and investing by reducing capital spending by $200 million and creating a medium-sized investment fund of up to $314 million. Most of these responses indicated their preference for establishing the fund was a partial sale of the Council’s airports shares plus the sale of nine ground leases.

There was a high level of interest in the proposed changes to capital projects aimed at reducing spending.

Sixty one percent of consultation submissions supported the preferred Council option of increasing the Begonia House project budget by $2.9 million to do the minimum amount of work for it to continue operation. Half of the survey respondents indicated the same.

Nineteen percent of submissions supported the Council’s preferred option of selling the Karori Events Centre in its current state, while 41 percent said repairs should be done to achieve compliance. Forty-six percent of survey respondents said the site should be sold as is, while 24 percent backed the option to do repairs for compliance, which would increase the related budget by $1.3 million.

A quarter of submissions supported the Council’s preferred option to rephase the Paneke Pōneke bike network over 20 years rather than 10, while 34 percent said only projects that are approved or under construction should be finished. Thirty-six percent of survey respondents backed a rephasing of the network while 32 percent supported finishing what was started, approved or under construction.

For the Annual Plan, 60 percent of submissions supported the Council partnering with Taranaki Whānui to manage the Matai Moana reserve, with 27 opposing joint management. Sixty-four percent of survey respondents supported the partnership arrangement around Matai Moana while 22 percent did not. (Four to 5 percent in both platforms didn't like either option).

A large majority of submitters and respondents supported Council proposals to change the current policy around short-term accommodation providers. Sixty-six percent of submissions backed clearer guidelines around charging commercial rates to such providers with 20 percent against the move. Seventy-one percent of survey respondents also supported the move, with 13 percent against.

Support for the overall budget, which would result in an average rates increase of 12 percent in 2025/26 (including the 1.4 percent sludge levy), was mixed. Thirty-eight percent of submissions supported the budget, and the same percentage of people opposed it; while 40 percent of survey respondents supported the budget and 30 percent opposed it.

Deliberations on the Long-term Plan Amendment, Annual Plan and Local Water Done Well water reform will take place at the Long-term Plan, Finance and Performance Committee meeting on Thursday 22 May.

The final amendment and Annual Plan are scheduled to be adopted by Council on Thursday 26 June.

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