Annual report reflects planning for future growth and building resilience

Kāpiti Coast District Council adopted their Annual Report 2023/24 today. This is the third and final Annual Report of Council’s Long-term Plan 2021–41. 

Mayor Janet Holborow says Council’s financial performance for the past year has been sound, especially given the challenges presented.

“We’ve had to balance planning for future growth and building resilience in a high-cost economy, keeping rates rises at conservative levels, and navigating changes to central government direction,” says Mayor Holborow. 

“Being realistic with what we could achieve, and prioritising upgrades of our critical infrastructure have been a key focus.

“This included delivering $81.7 million of capital projects, including $10 million on stormwater, $10 million on drinking water, and $5 million on wastewater. This capital spend is $20.1 million higher than the previous year, demonstrating our commitment to investing for growth and resilience.

“This is evident in the stormwater network upgrade in Paraparaumu which will help reduce flooding in the Amohia catchment, and safety and resilience improvements at the Waikanae wastewater treatment plant.

“We’ve also progressed our blueprint for Ōtaki, which includes starting the first of two new reservoirs and planning for the now underway $11 million wastewater upgrade.

“This work is crucial to ensure our district can live with more water and more people, whatever the future has in store.”

Improving access to affordable, warm, dry, and safe housing options has been another focus.

“With our district’s population projected to grow by 30,000 within the next 30 years, establishing an Affordable Housing Trust in partnership with iwi and other organisations and securing $10 million central government funding for housing in Ōtaki have been particular highlights,” says Mayor Holborow.

“With that growth in mind, we’ve progressed a number of projects to ensure our communities remain connected and thriving. This includes delivering improvements to the Paraparaumu transport hub and following through on our commitment to extend and refurbish Te Ara Whetū | Waikanae Library to transform it into a multifunctional library and community hub.

“Naturally, ensuring our communities contribute to our decision making is a driving force behind what we do and why we do it. Some of the consultation activity we undertook in 2023/24 included our Long-term Plan, which was adopted on 27 June, Vision Kāpiti to capture the community’s aspirations out to 2060, and we asked the community how they’d like to be represented following the establishment of a Māori ward.

“This shows our commitment to community-driven change for current and future generations.”

Council has achieved 79 percent of its non-financial service performance targets, a slight increase from 76 percent in 2022/23. It also had its AA credit rating reaffirmed by S&P Global at a time when other councils faced downgrades.

“This reaffirms we have the right plans and strategies in place,” says Mayor Holborow.

“We’ve accomplished so much this year, as a Council and as a community. There are more tough decisions ahead, but we’ll do them together and continue to make Kāpiti a fantastic place to call home.”