Ashburton And Selwyn Claim More Projects Getting Done On Time

Thursday, 2 October 2025, 5:20 pm
Article: Jonathan Leask - Local Democracy Reporter

Ashburton and Selwyn district councils both carried over millions in unfinished projects into the new financial year, but both suggest more planned work is being completed on time. 

Carry-over money is from work that had been budgeted for but was either never started or not completed in the last financial year. 

Ashburton District councillors recently approved carrying over $9.1m of capital and operational work from 2024/25 year. 

Chief executive Hamish Riach said the council is “quietly pleased the carryover request was reduced on previous years”. 

“It is an indication that more planned work was completed within the year. We would, of course, like to reduce it further.” 

The council had carried over just over $10m from the 2023-24 financial year and there had been $38.9m in carryovers from 2022-23, which included $22m for the delayed construction of Te Whare Whakatere, Methven water treatment plant, and Mt Somers water treatment plant. 

This year’s capital expenditure carryover included $8.3m of capital expenditure. Riach said that most of the work subject to the carryover request was underway at the end of the financial year but hadn’t been fully completed. 

The bulk of the capital carryover is $4.6m of drinking water projects, and Riach said that includes the UV filtration treatment upgrades that will be completed by December. 

There is $2.2m of property projects, which again features the $1.9m for the Art Gallery and Heritage Centre air conditioning upgrade, which Riach said has been carried over for a number of years “due to processes and complications required by Resource Consent conditions and the Resource Management Act”. 

“We are in the process of applying for a consent variation to enable us to implement the upgrade solution. 

“The budget carryover will be needed for the upgrade work once the consent is obtained and any conditions are understood.” 

A consent hearing will be held on October 15. 

At the Selwyn District Council, the total capital expenditure carryover for the 2024/25 financial year was $18m, a significant drop from the $91.4m in 2023/24. 

Selwyn’s infrastructure and property executive director Tim Mason said the $91.4m included some major projects that were underway, and budgets carried forward to complete the work, such as around $23m to complete upgrades to the Pines Wastewater Treatment Plant, the Shands-Hamptons and Shands-Trents Road roundabouts, and wastewater and drinking water capacity upgrades across the district. 

He said the council’s focus has been on essential infrastructure, particularly water and roads. 

“With a growing district, there’s always pressure to deliver on a high workload of projects. 

“It’s good to see the team delivering some great results on meeting this demand, particularly on big projects such as the Ellesmere to Pines Pipeline, which the team brought in early and under budget.”

-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

© Scoop Media

Local Democracy Reporting

Content from the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) service is published by Scoop as a registered New Zealand Media Outlet LDR Partner.