Long Term Plan 2021-2031

10-year Plan 2021-2031

Every three years, Hutt City Council prepares a 10-year plan in consultation with the community that sets out the initiatives and services we plan to fund in the 10 year period ahead.

Final 10 Year Plan (PDF 6.4MB)

What is the 10-year Plan?

The 10 year-plan is council’s key strategic document. It sets out our priorities for the next 10 years, including what we will do, how much it will cost and how we will fund it. It is reviewed every three years to make sure it is still relevant and accurate. In the intervening years, an Annual Plan is developed to reflect any changes to the 10-year plan required for the year ahead.

E whakatika ana i ngā mea matua | Getting the basics right

One of the biggest challenges Te Awa Kairangi Lower Hutt faces is the pressure that a growing population and climate change is putting on our ageing infrastructure and assets.

The key focus of the 10-year plan is getting the basics right.

To do that, Council is doubling its investment in capital projects to $1.5B over the next decade. Two thirds of this will be spent on core infrastructure – investing $587M on our three waters network and $406M on transport projects. We will also accelerate efforts to tackle the housing crisis and take steps to eliminate carbon emissions as part of the capital projects Council is planning as well as across all Council facilities. Resilient infrastructure assets are crucial to both support the city’s growth and in response to the impacts of climate change and sea level rise.

What you thought of the plan - consultation

Engagement with Iwi Mana Whenua was a key focus and began prior to the development of the draft 10-year plan, continuing throughout the year and engagement period. Iwi Mana Whenua support council refocusing on addressing the shortage of suitable housing. Investing in the city's core infrastructure and prioritising of spending on three waters. They welcome the commitment to the partnership between Iwi Mana Whenua and council. Support for the move towards the four wellbeings and council’s commitment to addressing climate change is strong. They urge council to be bold and make the changes that are needed to secure the future for the people of Te Awa Kairangi Lower Hutt

Formal consultation on the draft 10-year plan began on 6 April and closed on 6 May 2021.

427 survey forms were completed.

Further hui were held with Iwi Mana Whenua and a number of café style engagement hui were held in our community facilities. Meeting face to face and informally gave those attending an opportunity to talk directly to Councillors and senior officers supporting the hui to share their concerns and ideas for the future. Hui occurred with a range of interest groups across the education, social services, business and community sector.

The consultation document, website and social media played a key role.

There were at least 117 conversations on the Hutt City Council Facebook page relating to the 10-year plan and Facebook polls received 1617 responses. The Facebook page messaging reached 27,455 people, had 865 post clicks, 85 reactions, 27 shares and 20 comments. There were 5081 page views and approximately 1,800 people visited the microsite primarily direct via social media. There was a 50/50 split between mobile and desktop technology.

The results and analysis

The majority of feedback supports the overall direction being taken, the six priorities identified, the 5.9 percent[1] rates revenue increase and the initiatives proposed.

Opinion is split relatively evenly on Petone Wharf. Analysis indicates that the lower level of support for Petone Wharf is related to the desire to reduce the rates increase, rather than fundamental opposition to the project. People stating a lower level of support for projects such as Petone Wharf, Naenae Pool and RiverLink strongly support the three waters and transport investment and are looking for savings elsewhere to help meet the investment needs.

We received 452 submissions and other correspondence during the engagement period 6 April to 6 May.

There was a good response across wards. The majority of submissions came from people under 50 years (62 per cent) with 11 per cent from under 29 years 4 per cent of which were under 20 years. Of these 58 per cent strongly agreed or agreed with the overall approach outlined in the draft 10-Year Plan while 14 per cent either disagreed or strongly disagreed.

Support for our preferred options ranged from 85 per cent (three waters) to 57 per cent (RiverLink). There was more support for the Community Facilities Trust and Neighbourhoods and Communities approach proposed by council than opposition, but both included a high proportion of “don’t know” responses.

What was decided for the 10-year plan

• Invest $587M in Three Waters infrastructure.
• Invest $406M in Transport.
• Invest up to $68M to build a new Naenae pool.
• Council has decided to proceed with the Petone wharf refurbishment works over the next three years and update the budget to reflect the latest estimate of up to $21M.
• Increase the council’s share of funding for RiverLink to $138M.
• Agreed to reduce the residential differential rating category share of general rates from 63 per cent to 62 per cent in 2021/22 and make further reductions of 1 per cent per year for the following two years with the corresponding increases in commercial percentages.