Shaping our Long Term Plan together

Every three years, every council in New Zealand must produce a Long Term Plan. This is a ten year road map that sets out priorities, the projects we’ll deliver, the budget behind them, and the financial strategy for how we pay for it all. I have been out and about recently, supporting councillor-led Long Term Plan discussions on services and infrastructure that matter most to our communities across the district.

While the law requires us to hear from our people about what we fund, and how, it has been even more important to consider the views of our communities as we grapple with the challenge of the rates cap, and the costs associated with ‘keeping the lights on’.

We have kept amalgamation in the back of our minds through this early engagement, while waiting for central government’s decision around the Head Start proposal we submitted in early August. Our Long Term Plan priorities and how we will fund them, could prove useful when hashing out priorities and agreeing on work as part of a larger council.

Central government’s announcement was…no announcement until after the general election. To say I am disappointed by this delay is an understatement. We worked hard to an impossible timeline, and we put forward a fulsome proposal that we believe would see benefits for our communities.

This process also triggered meaningful engagement with Auckland. Already a Unitary Authority (city and regional council combined) and excluded from putting in any proposals, I am pleased with further discussions around the north of our district connecting in with Auckland bus and train network arose as a result.

Franklin Cr Andy Baker has been very supportive as we both acknowledge that locals on both sides of the ‘border’ travel across it often for work, school, shopping, sport, and healthcare.  We are investigating an extension over the hill to Pookeno, for the Drury bus service which terminates at Ramarama.  The value to commuters is in having a real option to leave the car at home when heading into the city.  Early days, and well worth us working hard to achieve; a positive outcome from thinking wider than current council boundaries.

We are in a wait-and-see Head Start holding pattern while members of Parliament are out campaigning, but we’ll continue working with our communities to ensure we are ready to go when central government comes back to the table.

Ngaa mihi

Mayor Aksel Bech