However, the Waikato 2070 Economic and Growth Strategy, which was adopted by Council in June 2020, has generated a work programme that not only focusses on continued growth for our district, but also the ability to support business and community sustainability.

The growth indicated in Waikato 2070 has been informed by in-depth analysis and combines economic, community and environmental objectives to create liveable, thriving and connected communities. The growth direction within Waikato 2070 informs long-term planning and therefore affects social, cultural, economic and environmental wellbeing.

Waikato 2070 will also provide input into regional planning processes such as Future Proof and Hamilton to-Auckland Corridor planning. It is also currently informing the development of Asset Management Plans and associated capital works planning for the2021-2031 Long Term Plan.

Waikato 2070 was adopted in June following a period community consultation. We received over 90 submissions, with a number of submitters speaking at a
hearing.

We facilitated the local authority elections in October 2019.Residents and ratepayers across the district chose their representatives for their Mayor, 13 councillors across 10 wards and 30 members of our 5 community boards. Throughout the election period we connected with our community through our Vote Waikato website, held candidate evenings and voting drop-in centres in our offices and libraries. Mobile voting booths in the last weeks of the campaign were operational to enable as many voters as possible to have their say. We are proud that voter turnout increased compared to the last two elections.

We've appointed two Maangai Maaori (‘Voice of Maaori’)representatives on our three principal Council committees in the past year. These representatives will bring their vast skills and experience, as well as a Te Ao Maaori lens, to the decisions that the Council committees make, which will benefit our decision-making process and our communities.

We opened many of the Councillor workshops to the public, providing transparency and connecting our communities with the early planning stages on key decisions and policies, including the upcoming Long Term Plan 2021-31.

This year Council adopted a Libraries Strategy that applies to all 6 of the libraries in our district. The strategy will prioritise4 key themes which are broadly described as: building the reading experience with a focus on increasing literacy, creating Hubs that provide spaces and activities to bring people together, increasing access to library services through a mobile library, and developing knowledge and skills within our communities by delivering or facilitating meaningful programmes and events. We’ve also completed building the library and service centre in Meremere this year, which was opened at a spirited community day including performances from the local school and Te Kauwhata College.

Our shared library services agreement with Hamilton City Council has benefitted over 3,000 of our residents. Waikato district residents accounted for 8% of Hamilton City borrowers and the number of members signing up was 14% higher than modelled. These results support the value of this relationship and the desire to work collaboratively with Hamilton City for many years to come.

Learning about waste minimisation
Our district generates about 52,000 tonnes of waste that goes to landfill each year. This is an average of 750kgs per person! But we are also diverting about 71,000 tonnes of material from going to landfill through reuse, recycling and composting.

Under the Council’s Waste Management & Minimisation Plan (WMMP) 2018-2024, the vision of zero waste and resource recovery is integral to the health and wellbeing of our community. To achieve our vision of zero waste, we are continuing our work with Zero Waste Education, ParaKore, and Enviroschools programme.

During the Covid-19 Level 4 lockdown, the team at XtremeZero Waste delivered their lessons online, and a tutortook students on the journey of zero waste using a digital presentation.

Likewise the Para Kore, which aims to normalise zero waste by drawing on Te Ao Maaori (the maaori world) perspectives and the traditions and practices of our tupuna (ancestors),went online and trialled a number of live learning sessions that covered topics such as bokashi, making natural paints, and gardening and waste reduction for people living in urban areas. Each of these live learning sessions attracted two to nine thousand digital learners. Enviroschools programme empowers young people to plan, design and implement sustainability actions that are important to them. Connecting with their own communities, Enviroschools learners become actively involved in social, cultural and environmental change. At Maramarua School, students are revitalising the school’s gardens, Huntly West School are continuing to create a sustainable mara kai (vegetable garden) facility, and students at Pukekawa School have replanted many of their school’s gardens to increase biodiversity in the area.

Environmental Health
Our Environmental Health team has maintained its status as a recognised agency by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to provide verification services within the
district. Three Environmental Health Officers were appointed by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) as verifiers of food operations during the year, and two staff also
progressed to Food Safety Officer status for enforcement activities.

Because of Covid-19, our Environmental Health team has work hard with food operators in the district to assist with adapting to our new environment and the additional safety
considerations that come with it.

Our natural Environment
In preparation for notifying Stage 2 of our Proposed District Plan in the 2020/21 year, we’ve identified land that is subject to coastal inundation, coastal erosion and flooding from the Waikato and Waipa rivers through a coastal hazards assessment. This assessment focusses mainly on Raglan and Port Waikato urban areas and flood modelling. The flood modelling and coastal hazard assessment incorporate the
effects of climate change over a 100 year period.

The Waikere walkway project on the eastern shore of Lake Waikere was completed early in the 19/20 financial year under budget and on time. The section of walkway completes a short walk to the edge of Lake Waikere and is completed with native plantings.

Council have also partnered with Waikato Regional Council to procure a regional and district emissions stock take. A climate action project was initiated, which will use the stock take to develop a climate resilience action plan and policy. The action plan includes mitigation and adaptation for both Council and the district, advancing Council’s commitment to climate leadership on behalf of its communities, while simultaneously
implementing operational initiatives.

From Council-owned funds we committed more than $671,000 for distribution to 71 local groups.

On behalf of the Creative Communities Scheme Fund we distributed $58,581 to benefit 24 local groups, and the work of two more groups benefited from $28,000 we distributed
on behalf of an independent trust we administer, the Waikato District Community Wellbeing Trust

Of these service requests, nearly one-third were related to straying dogs. We have been proactively patrolling the district to reduce the number of wandering dogs and Council has worked closely with our communities to resolve issues as the jobs arise. In addition to our ‘Dogs in Libraries’ programme and our school education visits, we were involved with two successful public events this year with the ‘Get Your Pups Out for Breast Cancer’ pink walk in Horotiu and Tuakau.

In addition to our ‘Dogs in Libraries’ programme and our school education visits, we were involved with two successful public events this year with the ‘Get Your Pups Out for Breast Cancer’ pink walk in Horotiu and Tuakau, and the ‘Safe Kids’ Halloween event in Huntly.

While Covid-19 meant we put a temporary stop to our community events, we look forward to engaging with our communities at our popular events like Pound Pups Pool Party and our annual Dirty Dog Challenge.

In June of 2020, 14,736 dogs known are known to be residing in the district. Of these dogs, 13,735 are registered.

Connecting Communities
The new Mangawara Stream Bridge (and Watts Grove) upgrade at Taupiri provides a safe entranceway to the urupa. This bridge was a joint project involving Waikato Tainui, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, KiwiRail and Waikato District Council. The bridge was opened in June 2020.

Alternative Transport
We are supporting alternative transport modes and have started work to enhance shared walking and cycling paths in Raglan. These shared paths connect isolated parts of the community that rely on vehicle use with the town and popular beaches. During the Covid-19 lockdown, an increase in walking and cycling in the community was observed, and we hope to see this continue, along with a reduction in vehicle use. Local feedback of the completed sections on Wainui Road has been very positive. 2.8 kilometres of new footpath has been constructed which provides improved linkages and enhanced pedestrian safety across our communities.

While waters assets like treatment plants and our wastewater networks remain in Council ownership, the contract with Watercare is about the management and delivery of waters
services, which includes capital works and bringing together local knowledge and industry expertise to the benefit of the district.

Water Supply
To ensure security of supply, a new watermain to link Huntly and Ngaruawahia was commissioned and constructed. This watermain will ensure both townships have sufficient supply into the future over peak water demand periods and will allow both the Ngaruawahia and Huntly treatment plants to be closed for essential maintenance during periods of low
demand. We also replaced 302 water meters that were over 20 years of age around the district. This work was completed in February 2020.

Waste Water
In 2019/20 we continued to mitigate the risk of wastewater overflows with a particular focus on protecting waterways and environmentally sensitive areas. We cleaned 18.76 kilometres of wastewater pipes across Waikato district and inspected them via Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, as part of the third phase of our ongoing wastewater pipeline inspection and cleaning project. We replaced a severely damaged manhole and 40 meters of degraded AC pipe in Huntly, we continued with an inflow and infiltration reduction programme in Meremere and Raglan to lower the high wet weather flows and established a programme of priority renewals and replacements for the district’s
Long Term Plan.

Stormwater
We oversaw development-led extensions of the stormwater network, stormwater treatment ponds and riparian planting beside streams in Pokeno to ensure that stormwater management keeps up with growth in the area. The Pokeno stormwater model has been updated in flood prone locations to help us better understand the impacts of urban development and climate change in the area. Because significant industrial and residential development h as been proposed on the Hamilton City side of the Te Rapa catchment area, Watercare have recently completed flood hazard modelling of the Waikato District Council portion of the catchment in Horotiu.
We also continued our work in Raglan, upgrading the stormwater network to mitigate flooding issues and improvement catchment management.