Chair's message

Chair Fran Wilde

Over the two decades of their existence, regional councils around New Zealand have evolved slightly differently. However, we share a common objective of creating sustainable growth in our regional communities through the provision of public good activities that are best delivered regionally.

The Greater Wellington Regional Council now has a wide range of accountabilities, including environmental, social and economic development, and the inclusion of new areas of delivery in recent years has created a need for the organisation to be better attuned to the needs of all parts of the community and have greater agility in our responses. In particular, we want to provide sound governance of natural resources and enable sustainable economic development. With many different constituencies around the region, we know that it is impossible to please all of the people all of the time, but recently we have been putting more effort into honing our ability to be proactive in the face of diverse needs.

The coming year provides us with challenges that are similar to those being faced by many other community and commercial organisations in our region. We have growing demands for services and, in some cases, forward commitments for substantial expenditure, in an economic environment that precludes the generation of additional income to the level required. We are acutely aware that our residents need enhanced services (in some cases, such as rail improvements, "need" is an understatement) but at the same time many people are in their worst financial position for some years. Thus affordability is a major issue and we have taken it seriously in examining the programme outlined in this Annual Plan.

A year ago we believed that the overall increase required in our rates income for the forthcoming year could be as high as 11%. By taking a baseline look at all our services, we have pulled that back to 2.2%. It is worthwhile noting that rates income accounts for just under a quarter of our revenue – general rates 8% and targeted rates 15%. The revenue graph shows you the whole picture. Though we have carefully managed the budget for the forthcoming year, we know that the demands of the following year will also put considerable pressure on rates, so we will continue to look at further savings.

Though spending in many areas will not increase in the year covered by this proposed Annual Plan, we have maintained our 10-year plan to push ahead with flood control work and we also have contractual commitments to buy the Matangi trains. The first of the trains off the production line are due to arrive in Wellington later in 2010 and, after a commissioning process here, will start picking up passengers on the Hutt line before the end of the year. The majority of the infrastructure upgrade and renewal programme (double tracking, power lines and depot) being undertaken by KiwiRail is due to be completed around the end of the financial year 2010/11 and we expect that all lines will have some new trains running on them by June 2011, with the Matangi gradually replacing the oldest rolling stock. As the new Matangi trains are introduced we plan to progressively refurbish the Ganz Mavag units. I know this will be a supreme relief for long-suffering Wellington commuters, who have been extremely patient with the frequent delays and breakdowns as the antiquated infrastructure is being replaced.

A major initiative that we are starting this year is the process of developing a new Natural Resource Plan, providing updated rules and guidelines for the use of all natural resources. Until now we have had five plans covering different aspects of our environment, but we will be developing a single comprehensive one that will take account of the complex interrelationships between land and water. The committee overseeing this work is a partnership with regional iwi. We are taking a "bottomup" approach, starting with significant local engagement around the region to identify the key issues of concern to different groups and communities of interest. We expect the whole development process to take at least two years and there will be plenty of opportunities for people to be involved along the way.

Feeding into the development of the Natural Resource Plan is our environmental research and monitoring. In particular, scientific data from the past few years is giving us the tools to help decide minimum flows for major rivers and sustainable yields for aquifers. These decisions are becoming important with increasing demand for water and a less predictable climate, and it is critical that our decisions are based on facts. This work will feed into the development of the Natural Resource Plan.

Another special project this year is the seismic strengthening of one of the Te Marua water storage lakes. With various fault lines crossing the region we are always conscious of the need to improve our resilience, so the lake will be emptied to enable the work to be undertaken next summer. This means we may have to have garden watering restrictions during that period. The second lake will be strengthened the following summer.

In the environmental area we have ongoing "business as usual" commitments. These include areas as diverse as resource consent processing, didymo surveillance, a 24-hour pollution-response service and working with community groups, schools, businesses and landowners on restoration work throughout the region. These, along with soil conservation, biodiversity, pest animal and plant control, running our outstanding regional parks and, of course, the extensive flood protection work, are all core business for Greater Wellington – managing our natural capital for the good of the wider community.

Similarly, we also deliver in social and economic areas – managing the regional Civil Defence and emergency response, planning the transport network, funding public transport, providing bulk water supply for the four cities, working as the major funder of the regional stadium and funding the region's economic development agency Grow Wellington. This work is best undertaken regionally and Greater Wellington is committed to working with our local authority partners to ensure that we provide top service and good value. In transport, while rail has grabbed the headlines, work continues on introducing real-time information for bus and train travellers, reviewing bus services and supporting the introduction of bus priority lanes. The Government's announcement of the Wellington part of the Roads of National Significance programme has given us certainty around the state highway network (long overdue for upgrading) and we are now able to plan more effectively. During the forthcoming year we are also proposing to undertake a review of the formula used to calculate the transport rate applied to different areas of the region.

One aspect of our transport delivery that will doubtless engender lively comment – and where we invite your input – is the public transport fare review. Greater Wellington reviews fares annually and the last increase was in September 2008. This year we are proposing a 3% increase in overall revenue, which will impact differently on different parts of the transport system. The increase is in line with our policy of maintaining the user contribution at around 45% to 50% of the cost of providing the services, with the remainder from rates and government subsidies.

A new initiative this year will see us working with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) to enable easier access to the Government's home insulation scheme for people in our region.

Partnerships are not new to this region and, at a time when central government is contemplating the future arrangements of local government, it is pertinent to examine how we can build on this. No doubt people here and throughout the country will be watching the impact of changes in the Auckland region, where the creation of one large council combining the mandates of the regional council and all the local authorities will result in one voice for a third of the country's population.

The elected leaders of the Wellington region believe we already have a high degree of collaboration, utilising the Wellington Regional Strategy process and other joint delivery mechanisms in a variety of sectors. Nevertheless, it is prudent to search for ways to improve. The councils of the region are at present working together closely to see how we can better share service delivery in a number of areas. This work has made good progress and I am confident will result in savings for ratepayers. We are also exploring any potential changes in governance arrangements that might be more effective than the current setup. The final outcome of this will need to involve the community and hopefully we will be in a position to consult during the forthcoming year.

This proposed Annual Plan includes many elements of work with our regional partners – local authorities, community groups and business – as well as delivery for which we are solely responsible. I ask you to read it carefully and share with us your views on any of the proposals.