Draft Long Term Plan heads to deliberation stage

Published on 20 March 2025

After two days of in-person submission hearings, the Draft Long Term Plan setting out the budget and project direction for the Waitaki District will now be deliberated by the Mayor and Councillors in early April.

The record-breaking submissions from 650 people, some as individuals or representing community groups from across the District, totalled over 2,700 pages. The Mayor and Councillors spent several days reading ahead of this weeks submission hearings.

The message has come across very clearly, with reducing costs and rate-rises, while getting back to basics being a key theme for many submissions. Before consultation began, the Mayor and Councillors made a commitment to balancing the budget for the Long Term Plan, as at the launch of the consultation it was unbalanced across the nine-years it covers.

However, in the consultation, there have also been requests for increased funding for specific projects, communities and assets, and consideration will be given for what can be done through current business as usual and inclusion in future Annual or Long Term Plans.

Mayor Gary Kircher says, “We’ve had the largest response to a Long Term Plan consultation on record, and it’s now down to our Councillors and me to make some tough but important decisions. We have heard the concerns around affordability and core services, and we have heard the need to focus our efforts. Our decisions will take those submissions into account as we also ensure we deliver good quality services for the Waitaki District.

I’d like to thank everyone who made a submission, either as an individual or representing a group, for recognising how important their role is in this process and doing their civic duty - we have all read every single submission and every submitter will receive a response."

The Mayor and Councillors deliberations take into account their strategic direction, community views, costs, risks and equity for the community before directing Council Officers to make changes to the budget and plan, which will be brought back to them for further consideration in April and May.

These deliberations will be public and livestreamed and are planned to take place between 9am and 4pm on 31 March 2025, between 10.15am and 12.15am and 1.45pm and 4.30pm on 1 April 2025 .

ENDS