Council calls for early input on plans for the long term

While the Kāpiti Coast District Council 20-year plan doesn’t need to be in place until mid-2018, we’re calling for early input from Kāpiti locals.

Mayor K Gurunathan says that initial workshops with community group representatives and councillors have been held, and we’re keen to hear from the wider community.

“We’ve seen a lot of change in Kāpiti since our last long term plan was put in place in 2015, including the opening of the new Mackays to Peka Peka Expressway and a number of weather events and earthquakes reminding us of the need to be prepared,” says the Mayor.

“Fundamental to the refresh of our long term plan are the challenges we focus on and the way these focus our activities in the years ahead.

“Living within our means is high on our list of challenges.  The vast majority of Council work is carrying out our required local authority functions.  Within those activities, though, we get to make choices about where we focus our resources and budget.  Getting clear on what’s important to us as a district helps us make those hard choices.

“Working with feedback from community workshops, councillors have looked at ways we could focus our activities in the years to come.  We’ve suggested three possible approaches, focusing on our strong, distinct communities, our stunning natural environment, and on our potential to attract more people to live and work in or visit Kāpiti.  There are plenty of other ways forward, and community feedback at this stage will help guide our work as a draft long term plan is put together.

“We’re keen to hear if people think we’re on the right track in terms of the challenges we’re looking to address and also what they like, or don’t like, about possible ways forward.

“Working within our tight financial constraints it’ll take some time to see real results from our plans, and in order to do new things we’ll need to reprioritise money from other areas.  So it’s important that we hear about people’s preferences and priorities as we set our direction.”

Information on the draft challenges and proposals is available on the Council website at kapiticoast.govt.nz/kapiti2038 and at Council service centres and libraries.  Plus, there will be opportunities to catch up with councillors and talk over our district’s challenges and possible ways forward.  Feedback is invited by 31 July 2017.

3 July 2017