A long term plan for Whanganui

Published on 13 March 2018

A long term plan for Whanganui

Whanganui District Councillors have formally adopted a consultation document which sets out the main issues they want to address in their 2018-2028 Long Term Plan.

The document will be made available to the public from Monday 19 March and Councillors are asking the public to read the document and have their say via submission by 5.00pm, 19 April 2018.

Mayor Hamish McDouall says, “This is our ten year plan and it’s vitally important we tap into the wisdom of the Whanganui community before we finalise it.

“We have spent months considering the priorities for the future of our district, working through the options and doing everything in our power to keep rates as low as we possibly can while still maintaining levels of service.”

He says an average rates rise for next year of 4.5% is the largest rates rise in the ten year plan which overall will see an average rise of only 2.4%.

“In the previous ten year plan, 2018-19 was always going to require a rates rise due to the waste water treatment plant becoming operative, but we have managed to pull this down from an anticipated 12% rise.”

The three key issues contained in the Long Term Plan include:

• a plan for paying for the impact of forestry harvesting on the district’s roads,

• the revitalisation of Whanganui’s port, and

• improvements to stormwater infrastructure.

The Council’s financial strategy outlined in the document includes debt reduction of up to $30M over ten years, preferred options for funding wastewater and trade waste and proposals for key infrastructure projects.    

Mayor McDouall says, “The projects in the plan are informed by evidence, science, projections and models. We need to grapple with the fact of climate change, and what that means for our infrastructure. We also need to consider that our demographics are projected to change and what that will mean for new subdivisions and extended services.”

He says, “From next week we will be asking our community to check out our plan and tell us what they think. We’ll be out and about to answer questions and hear views – so keep an eye on the Council’s Facebook page and our media releases and advertisements for further information on events and displays.”

Print and downloadable versions of the consultation document will be available from 19 March 2018.