North Shore Community Plan benefits from community input

The North Shore City Council has approved the Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP), setting out the city’s major projects and expenditure for the next 15 years.

Mayor Andrew Williams said that by listening to the views of the community through the submissions process, and by making some careful cuts in proposed spending, the council was able to hold next year’s rates increase to 5.2% rather than the 5.9% proposed in the draft plan which was released for consultation in April. This is well below previous years’ forecasts of 8% per annum.

However this is the first year that all Auckland ratepayers will be required to pay a separate government-imposed levy under the Auckland Regional Amenities Act. This will add another 0.5% to all North Shore rates bills.

Mayor Williams says that the prevailing economic climate means that the council was faced with some tough decisions in order to balance the budget against the many and varied needs of North Shore residents.

“As a Council and as a community, we feel that we have been able to sharpen our pencil whilst maintaining the delivery of local services across our city, and I want to thank the people of the North Shore for their invaluable input to this exercise.”

The council’s priorities continue to be in areas of greatest concern to the community – clean water, better transport, better parks and reserves, and better overall services for the North Shore.

Major projects such as Project CARE and the $116 million Rosedale wastewater outfall - both intended to enhance water quality in the city’s waterways and beaches, and both seen as a high priority by the community - received continued funding.

On other major issues, 530 public submissions helped to shape the Council’s priorities, which include:

• Increased funding for community grants to support organisations across the city
• Improved library services for Albany
• More funding for off-road cycleway development
• Increased funds for repairs, maintenance and pest control in the city’s parks and reserves
• Increased funding for improvements to the Victoria Wharf in Devonport
• Support for Enterprise North Shore’s targeted business attraction programme.

The finalised plan has received an unqualified opinion from Audit New Zealand.

Mayor Williams says that in light of the impending changes to Auckland governance, the North Shore City Council saw prudence in preparing a 15-year plan rather than the 10-year plan favoured by other councils.

North Shore is the only council in New Zealand to have prepared such an extended plan.

“We felt it was important to look ahead as far as possible to ensure that long-term plans for the North Shore were ready to put into the mix when the new Auckland Council prepares its plans for the future of greater Auckland,” Mayor Williams said.

Before the Council could sign off the plan, approval was received from the Auckland Transition Agency (ATA), which is tasked with overseeing the changes Auckland’s local governance.

The ATA is required by law to review the LTCCPs for all of greater Auckland’s eight councils, checking for any actions or expenditure which could prejudice the operation of the new Auckland Council when it takes over from the existing councils on 1 November next year.