Draft Long Term Plan 2024 / 2034

The health of our society is directly linked to the health of our environment.

Waimakariri has diverse habitats that support a range of native animal and plant species, including some threatened. From coastal lagoons, to braided rivers and drylands, there is a range of rich biodiversity.

However, we are seeing these habitats damaged along with the rich resources they maintain.

The Council has a vision that ‘Our healthy and resilient natural environment sustains our ecosystems, our communities and our future’.

To deliver on this we have developed the Natural Environment Strategy—this prioritises local responses that promote environmental health with action focused on Council owned land.

The strategy has four main aims:

• Prioritise nature
• Connect people and nature
• Improve biodiversity knowledge
• Sustain and create resilient ecosystems.

Residents have said in recent Customer Satisfaction Surveys they would like the Council to show leadership by prioritising climate change, sustainability and environmental protection.

The Council believe this strategy will deliver on these wishes and help restore degraded natural environments. There are three options of public investment proposed.

Each option has a series of actions to support the natural environment but come in at different levels of investment and timing of projects.

All options will increase levels of service for the environmental outcome that land use is sustainable, biodiversity is protected and restored.

OPTIONS

A: Council’s preference

This option includes all 124 actions in the Natural

Environment Strategy Implementation Plan, such as:

• Ensuring all community members have access to ecological advice
• Enhancing the accessibility of natural environments by providing better physical access and toilets
• Developing more walking tracks at natural parks such as Ashley Gorge Reserve
• Planting and develop more reserves in the District
• Providing rangers to work with community groups, plant reserves and carry out pest and weed management
• Creating community and education events
• Providing a $10,000 annual contestable fund to support environmental groups
• Providing coastal access platforms for people with mobility issues
• Funding to develop the land at Lineside Road
• Part funding (with Department of Conservation) for a toilet at Coopers Creek to enable accessibility
• Providing staff to carry out legislative requirements and support landowners with biodiversity projects.

B: Legislative and important actions from the strategy

This option only includes all legislative and actions deemed very important in the Natural Environment Strategy Implementation Plan, such as:

• Providing staff to carry out legislative requirements and support landowners with biodiversity projects
• Creating community and education events
• Providing a $10,000 annual contestable fund to support environmental groups
• Providing coastal access platforms for people with mobility issues
• Provisional funding to develop the land at Lineside Road.

C: Continue work already underway

This option continues work we already have underway such as:

• Providing funding to develop land at Lineside Road
• Part funding (with Department of Conservation) for a toilet at Coopers Creek to enable accessibility
• Providing staff to carry out legislative requirements and support landowners with biodiversity projects.

Full detail for each of these options is available in the ‘implementation plan’ which you can view at the Documents tab on this project home page.

If there are other comments you would like to make about the Strategy we would love to hear from you. Please include these as part of your formal submission.

Today, the Council owns and operates 17 community facilities across the District. This includes sites like the Town Hall, MainPower Stadium, sport fields, community halls, aquatic facilities, libraries and more.

These facilities meet the needs of our community today. But with roughly 30,000 new residents expected by 2050, we need to plan and budget ahead of time to meet the future needs of our community.

We’re doing this via a review of our public facility strategies. This includes the recently completed:

Community Facilities Network Plan

This strategy identified opportunities to activate our spaces more, potential building sales, and financial contributions towards new facilities. It proposes an increase to building replacement budgets in outer years of the LTP of $3.8m to replace other key community facility halls and sports pavilions.

Aquatics Strategy

The strategy identified projects the community have requested. These include a hydrotherapy pool for Kaiapoi. A hydro slide was also assessed for Rangiora. These facilities have been costed at $15.0m in today's dollars. The Council has not added this investment to the draft Long Term Plan and have pushed these projects to outside of the 10 year time frame of the LTP.

Still to complete are the:

Sports facilities

This plan found that current investment is suitable to meet the needs of the community into the future. In the short term we need to make two pressing decisions.

Southbrook Sports Club needs upgrading, and potentially a new facility overall, which has been costed at $1.34m between years 2025–2028.

We are also looking to invest $0.5m towards the development of a new cricket Oval and training facility next to MainPower Oval. This will ensure the District continues to host first class cricket.

Provisional funding has been allocated for both projects. However, before we progress with design and build stages we will engage with the community again.

These plans will consider whether we have the right facilities, in the right places, and will guide the Council’s future investment into public spaces over the next 30 years.

We want to know if the community supports funding the review holistically as well as implementation of the short term projects identified.

OPTIONS:

A: Council’s preference

The Council wants to plan and budget ahead of time for community facilities to ensure Waimakariri remains a great place to live and play. The best way to do this is through a strategic review of our community facilities.

Concurrently there are projects we need to start before we can undertake this strategic review.

*This is a provisional sum and no decision has been made to include prior to further community engagement

B: No new funding is allocated

This would mean our community facilities aren’t developed in a strategic way that best benefits our community. In the short term we could miss opportunities to develop the Southbrook Sports Club and MainPower Oval in a way that best serves our current community. Option B has no impact on rates.

Waimakariri Libraries operate as vibrant community hubs, making connections with our diverse community. They continue to reflect on and grow operations that enrich the lives of our communities supporting community wellbeing and fostering community cohesion.

In the 2021-31 LTP the Council put aside funding to expand and upgrade the Trevor Inch Memorial Rangiora Library and Rangiora Civic Building.

The timeline for project design to start was 2028 with construction scheduled to take place between 2028 – 2030. A budget of $22.0m was put aside for the Civic Building and $8.3m for the Library.

Since then, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have swept the world and New Zealand is currently facing a cost of living crisis causes by high inflation.

For these reasons, the Council said it would revisit this project for the 2024-34 LTP. The District’s growing population has put pressure on the available space at Rangiora Library, and provision of library services and collections.

Waimakariri’s population will reach near on 100,000 by 2050.

Similarly, Council staff are currently spread across several buildings, and it would be more efficient to house all staff in one location.

During deliberations on the draft LTP, the Council carefully considered the need to upgrade these facilities while balancing affordability and rates restraint.

The decision was to focus primarily on an upgrade to the Trevor Inch Memorial Rangiora Library.

The existing building does not currently meet the needs of our diverse and growing population as the District’s Libraries shift to how library services are delivered and consumed with a wider community-led approach that includes art and museum experiences, digital offerings, and spaces to work and relax.

OPTIONS:

A: Council’s preference

Due to affordability this is the Council’s preference. The project scope of the dual building upgrade is pulled back from the 21/31 LTP to focus on a ground floor extension of the western side of the library alone. The current library will be retained.

The Civic Building upgrade project has been budgeted for 2034/35, outside of the LTP period. It will be funded by debt for the capital expenditure and rates for increased operational costs once completed. There will be an ongoing budget for minor refurbishments and leasing premises for staff ahead of 2034.

This will increase levels of service for the social outcome that Public spaces are diverse, respond to changing demographics and meet local needs for leisure and recreation.

B: Both projects go ahead and combined under one budget

We’ve revised the project budget to deliver a two-story building with the library on the ground floor with the Civic Building on the top floor. This will mean both buildings can cater for growth and deliver the services needed by the community.

This will increase levels of service for the social outcome that Public spaces are diverse, respond to changing demographics and meet local needs for leisure and recreation.

C: Minor refurbishments

Budget is put aside for refurbishments and upgrades to be undertaken where urgently needed. This option isn’t recommended as the current space will not suffice for our growing community and demand for Library and Civic services.

All option rates include construction/operation costs and debt servicing

In July 2023, the District experienced another significant rainfall event.

More than 150mm of rain fell in some areas over the course of three days. Council staff and Civil Defence set up an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to deal with the level of service requests and to monitor roads and river levels.

With climate change, this is now becoming a common occurrence.

Our Civil Defence team and Council staff work through these events to ensure our infrastructure is functioning, any issues are addressed, main roads remain accessible, and signage is placed in flooded areas where extreme caution is required—all so any risks to residents is minimised.

During this event, the Council received over 335 requests for service from affected residents. In July 2022, a more severe series of rainfall events resulted in over 800 requests.

Residents have told the Council, through Customer Satisfaction Surveys, they want additional action to be taken on identified flooding risk issues.

To address this amount of recovery work, which will take several months to work through, the Council established a Flood Team last August who are tasked with assessing requests and prioritising work where it’s most needed.

The team will not only input to the response and recovery works in future flood events. They will focus on implementing risk and resilience improvement projects, identified through previous flood events. This will improve the Council’s and community’s readiness and preparedness for future events heavy rainfall events.

However, the establishment of this team and additional spend to maintenance budgets has only been approved for one year and was unbudgeted.

As these types of events are expected to occur more frequently in the future, the Council sees benefit in establishing a permanent Infrastructure Resilience Team and setting up a Flood Recovery and Resilience fund, so that we can prepare and respond to future severe rainfall events.

OPTIONS

A: Council’s preference

The Council establishes a permanent Infrastructure Resilience Team and sets up a Flood Recovery and Resilience fund.

This team would implement infrastructure works to cater for more frequent heavy weather events, climate change and the associated impact on our services.

This will increase levels of service for the economic outcome that Infrastructure and services are sustainable, resilient and affordable.

B: No additional funding is allocated

Council continues to respond to flood events as they occur. Our business and usual investment would continue but we would expect future rainfall events to require unbudgeted spend.

As Waimakariri’s major town Rangiora continues to grow it’s important we make sure there are the right roads, footpaths and other connections that help people get around.

The Council has planned for a future road connection with a shared path from Lineside Road through to Northbrook Road.

This ‘Rangiora Eastern Link’ road would help reduce congestion through Southbrook, provide an alternate link to State Highway 1, and further enable housing and business growth to the east of Rangiora — which is anticipated in our District Plan.

We need infrastructure like arterial roads to enable housing development and growth, and the efficient movement of people and freight around the District.

Therefore, we have included this project as a priority in the draft Long Term Plan despite there being a focus on budget restraint.

With our preferred option, co-funding for the Rates funded portion of the project will be sought from NZTA as part of the 2024–2027 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP). The remainder would be funded from Development Contributions and debt.

There is some risk around development contribution funding. If growth does not occur as forecast, then the Council would need to use more debt to fund the project.

This project, as well as a replacement of Skew Bridge in West Kaiapoi, are our main priorities when advocating NZ Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi) for joint funding.

However, there is a high level of uncertainty around NZTA’s funding. Over 10 years we would expect to receive $15.5m from NZTA for both projects. If funding is not approved or a lower funding assistance rate is proposed by NZTA, the Council could fund the shortfall through borrowing. This will result in an average rate increase by $56.62 per household per year.

Our preference would be to receive co-funding from NZTA. However, we want to know if the community would still support the above two projects if the Council has to go it alone.

OPTIONS

A: Council’s preference

We receive NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) co-funding, for the non-growth related portion of the project and borrow to build the ‘Rangiora Eastern Link’. An increase in rates would be required.

This will increase the economic outcome that Infrastructure and services are sustainable, resiliant and affordable.

B: Proceed with the project but not within this LTP period

The project would be moved outside of the LTP period and not progressed. This will result in congestion increasing in Southbrook and the wider Rangiora area.The roading network will not be able to adequately support growth particularly in the east of Rangiora.

This would also restrict freight and limit the roading network’s ability to support the District’s economy. Planned projects would likely need to be delayed.

C: No NZTA subsidy so Council fully funds the project

The project would be fully funded by the Council through rates and development contributions. This would give us more certainty on delivery timelines. However, it would also significantly increase the Councils debt levels. The time period for delivery would be 2024/25 to 2029/30.

This will increase the economic outcome that Infrastructure and services are sustainable, resiliant and affordable.

D: Status Quo — Don’t build the road

This would result in unacceptable levels of congestion in Southbrook and impact the wider Rangiora area. This would limit the roading network’s ability to support the District’s economy.

Asset value inflation and depreciation

Councils have more than a billion dollars’ worth of community assets - like our roads, Three Waters assets, Libraries, Pools, and other community facilities.

One of Council’s responsibilities to ensure that these assets are managed so that the community continues to receive consistent levels of service. Residents should expect that community assets are replaced when damaged and remain in working order.

Assets have long life cycles (sometimes over 100 years), and one of the indicators of whether the Council is reinvesting enough into our asset base is through how much money we put aside for depreciation.

Funding depreciation involves putting aside the amount an asset loses in value each year, into a fund which used to replace this asset once it has finished its life cycle.

In recent years asset values have inflated as significantly higher levels than expected. As such we need to also inflate the amount we put aside to fund depreciation.

For example, recent asset revaluations include:

• Roading assets at 30 June 2023 showed an increase in a depreciable replacement cost by 6.6% or $64m and annual depreciation by 9.9% or $1.2m since the previous revaluation in 2022
• The Three Waters revaluation in 2022 showed an increase in asset value by 26% or $158m, and annual depreciation by 23% or $2.7m since the revaluation in 2020
• The Community Facilities revaluation in 2022 showed an increase by 18% or $14.5m, and annual depreciation by 38% or $0.8m since the revaluation in 2020.

For our depreciation to keep pace with inflating values this would require an additional 5.9% increase or $5.1m to rates in 2024/25.

Instead, the Council has opted for a strategy that will gradually increase the amount put aside to fund depreciation over five years to smooth out any dramatic shifts in rate increases.

As a result, our depreciation is not fully funded in the initial years of the LTP. However, this strategy will make rating increases more affordable to our community.

Climate change and sustainability

In late 2020, the Council adopted a Climate Change Policy to ensure we’re able to respond to climate change challenges appropriately.

A report from NIWA showed that Waimakariri can expect more frequent heavy rainfall, as well as more frequent and prolonged droughts due to temperature increases. There will also be some changes seen in our coastal areas due to sea levels rising.

The Council is incorporating our response to climate change and sustainability into our daily work programmes.

In the past few years, we have:

• Incorporated climate change considerations into our standard reporting template. This means every Council decision must look at its impact on climate change.
• Created a criteria so decisions that affect climate change mitigation and adaptation trigger our Significance and Engagement Policy
• Our procurement policy considers sustainable practices and solutions.
• Adopted an Integrated Transport Strategy that puts emphasis on alternative modes of transport and public transport infrastructure.
• We’ve focused on Civil Defence education so residents are aware of the actions they can take to protect their homes in the face of more extreme weather.
• We also maintain a significant amount of public land, parks and street trees that produce oxygen. This includes significant parks such as Tūhaitara Coastal Park and Matawai Park that hold thousands of native trees that sequester carbon from the atmosphere.

Going forward, as part of the LTP:

• We are carrying out a risk assessment to see what land and infrastructure is most at risk from coastal inundation, flooding, and other impacts, and are working with the community to identify options for reducing this risk. This will form the basis of a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and be incorporated and considered as part of our Infrastructure Strategy.
• Establishing a permanent flood recovery and infrastructure resilience team to maintain and improve our drainage network. This will reduce known flooding issues and provide more resilient infrastructure – keeping residents and property safe.
• We have purchased property with significant potential for ecological and recreational development between Kaiapoi and Rangiora. It is hoped a proportion of the land could be retired from commercial operation and reverted to ephemeral wetland. This is one of the projects proposed as part of the Natural Environment Strategy.
• When updating our vehicle fleet (the main source of Council emissions) we are opting for low-emission vehicles that still meet the needs of a semirural district
• In the years ahead the Council, as part of the Canterbury Mayoral Forum, is developing a collective climate action plan—as the effects of climate change don’t stop at our District’s boundaries. This is a collaborative approach that will align actions of the 11 councils in Canterbury so we’re working together to combat climate change.
• The Council is also supporting Environment Canterbury (ECan) in their request to central government to fund flood mitigation investment. This will likely take the form of riverway and stop bank improvements that will improve the flood resilience of our low-lying District.

Council’s 2022 Customer Satisfaction Survey showed more than 70 percent of respondents said it was important that the Council be active in responding to climate change. Council also received feedback in the survey calling for more green areas, larger parks, and recreational areas.

Residents said they wanted council to show leadership by prioritising climate change, sustainability, and environmental protection.

While there is lots of mahi to do we believe we are heading in the right direction.

Central Government reforms

Nationwide, councils are operating in an environment of uncertainty with a series of proposed reforms such as the Resource Management Act, Three Waters, Civil Defence, and the Future for Local Government reviews.

These reforms all affect the very core of what councils do. It’s important the new Government is transparent and inclusive of Local Government in its review and decisions around these changes. We support local decision making as opposed to centralised services that are at arms-length from communities.

Place based deals

The new Government has raised the possibility of ‘place based deals.’

Place-based agreements are bespoke packages of funding and decision-making powers negotiated between central and local government and other local bodies.

They are designed to drive long-term, large-scale improvements at place in a way that shines light on local priorities.

We are keen to see how we could make such a deal work for Waimakariri and alongside neighbouring Councils. This could mean we would be able to fund significant infrastructure projects without the funding mechanism being rates alone.

We are optimistic about our Council’s future with central Government and look forward to working in partnership with them for the betterment of the Waimakariri District, Greater Christchurch, and Canterbury.

Three Waters

The new Government has repealed the mandated reform of Three Waters. Water assets will remain in Council ownership and local control.

In the coming years we expect and welcome further central government oversight of council-owned water infrastructure management.

The regulator, Taumata Arowai, require councils to meet minimum water operating standards and ensure they are investing to accommodate growth. Within a year, councils would be required to deliver their plans for meeting water quality and infrastructure investment rules while being financially sustainable.

The structures and models required to meet these standards will be determined with councils. We will be in touch with the community once the legislation has made clear what these standards will be and how we will need to invest and organise to meet them.

The Council has not been directed to fluoridate public water. As such, have not budgeted for this. If we are directed to include fluoride in our water we will inform our community as soon as possible.

However, new drinking water standards require supplies to be chlorinated.

Council chlorinated our water schemes in October 2023. The introduction of chlorine has not required any capital expenditure but will require $200,000 for annual operating costs. Council’s intention is to work with the new regulator on a programme of works that provides a pathway to chlorine exemptions.

Investment in transport

The Council is committed to advocating for better transport infrastructure in Waimakariri. Transport infrastructure is funded approximately 50/50 between rates and central government funding via NZ Transport Agency’s (Waka Kotahi) National Land Transport Fund.

We intend to submit a significant list of projects to NZTA’s programme for funding consideration. This includes a replacement of Skew Bridge in West Kaiapoi as well as the Rangiora Eastern Link Road.

We have also made an increase in our maintenance, operation, and renewal funding to keep our roads up to standard. We have asked NZTA to increase their contribution to meet this. We are also continuing to strongly advocate for fixed timelines for the construction of the Woodend Bypass.

We are pleased to see a commitment to the Woodend Bypass from central Government as well as the project’s inclusion in the Canterbury Regional Transport Committee’s draft Regional Land Transport Plan. This is essential infrastructure that is long overdue and we’re looking forward to partnering with central Government on its delivery.

In the preparation of this LTP the Council was working on the development of several cycleways that would connect our townships. This was to be funded through the central government Transport Choices Programme with local contributions, to encourage walking and cycling.

The new Government intends to repurpose funding from the Transport Choices programmes. Council staff will report to Council further on this once the intentions of the new Government are clear.

Housing

Council owns and runs 112 elderly housing units. Our growing waitlist shows that there are limited options for affordable rentals for small one or two person households. Equally, there are others under significant housing stress. The lead agencies for social housing remain the Government and Community Housing Providers. However, we do have a role as a land use regulator and can see where housing barriers exist, advocate for those in need and communicate what options, resources and/ or agencies are best placed to help resolve them.

This year the Council adopted a Housing Policy which guides how Council, and our partners, should approach initiatives that enhance the quality, quantity, affordability, and accessibility of housing across the District into the future.

It focuses Council’s efforts on initiatives that address housing needs of families and individuals on lower incomes and to those that otherwise face barriers to finding appropriate housing. You can find more information about the policy on the Council website: waimakariri.govt.nz/services/council-housing

Rubbish and recycling

We know that too much rubbish and recyclable material is ending up in landfills and our environment. There are a lot of changes happening in the sector that will result in costs being passed on to the end consumer.

These include:

• Increasing landfill levies
• Green waste provision may change with a reduction in the services and capacity offered at the Bromley processing plant
• The Southbrook facility is scheduled for an upgrade to meet the needs of our growing community
• The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) are signalling higher regulation standards. This includes the floating of the ‘mandatory’ adoption of organics bin collection.

To find out more about changes to the rules for rubbish and recycling visit: waimakariri.govt.nz/services/rubbish-recycling-and-organics