Annual Report 2008/09

Download the Annual Report 2008/09 (PDF, 3MB)

Chair's report

The year under review has been extremely busy for Greater Wellington. Not only have we undertaken normal delivery of planned business across a wide range of activities, but we have also been working on the production of three major, long-term strategic documents.

The first of these, our Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP) , sets out our intentions for the next 10 years and the community outcomes we wish to achieve. This was a major and time-consuming exercise for us and we are also aware that the public consultation required placed major demands on our community. I am grateful to those who responded to our request for input.

The second of the major strategies – the Regional Policy Statement (RPS) – was completed and put out for consultation as a final draft. The RPS is a critical strategy for the region, containing objectives for environmental management. This is an area of growing concern around the country as all communities struggle to balance economic growth with the necessity to protect the environment for future generations. In Wellington we also have major challenges, with water quality in particular, and the final RPS will give guidance both to Greater Wellington and local councils as to how we should approach these issues long term.

Transport planning also took a major step forward with the development of our new Regional Land Transport Programme by the Regional Transport Committee. The programme is the result of close collaboration between the local councils, Greater Wellington and six appointees representing various interests throughout the region. It has a three-year focus and gives a clear outline of roading and public transport priorities for the region. Highlights include our major investment in rail, provision for more bus lanes through the Wellington city CBD, and major road improvements to assist both public and private transport at various pinch points in the regional network.

All of this planning took up major internal resources and as a consequence we did not make as much progress as we had wished on the planned Water Strategy. However, this is now a top priority. Throughout the year we also engaged intensively with other councils in the region on our response to climate change. This is ongoing work and will become more important as predicted weather variations increase in intensity.

In my introduction to the plan for the year I warned of the impact that oil price rises could have on our budget and the flow-on to our rates. Now in retrospect we know that one of the few pieces of good news in an otherwise bleak economic outlook was that oil prices crashed. This probably wasn’t much comfort for the individuals and families in our region who were hit by the fallout from the biggest recession in decades, but it has helped with our transport rate for the forthcoming year. This year transport grew to be an even bigger item of expenditure for us, accounting for 63% of the total budget. Our mandate includes public transport funding, together with working with the Regional Transport Committee on planning the region’s overall transport network.

It is fair to say that public transport delivery remains a vexed issue, particularly with regard to rail, where we are dealing with ageing infrastructure that in most countries would have been scrapped long ago. I know it has been immensely frustrating for our travelling public and I thank passengers for their patience as we work with KiwiRail to prepare the network for the new Matangi trains due in 2010. We did make good progress during the year – but, alas, nothing was able to improve the service that is currently on offer!

During the year the waiting was over in respect of the new trolley bus fleet and we now have 60 new vehicles on the street going through their commissioning process. Also, the Government announced its new policy on Roads of National Significance (RoNS) and it was gratifying that the whole of SH1 from Levin to Wellington Airport was included. We hope this will result in more focus on our region from government transport agencies in the future.

The breadth of engagement we have with our community is evident in this report. The lives of all of our residents are touched by our work in some way and we continue to strive to become more efficient, particularly when the community is under economic stress. I would like to thank all those in the region who worked with us during the year – residents, organisations and the local councils. Also, I acknowledge the commitment of our staff and thank them for their contribution to making this region such a desirable place to live.