Long-Term Plan

Consultation on our draft Long-Term Plan 2024-34 is currently open until Monday 3 June 2024.

Every three years we ask our community to give us feedback on our proposed plan for the next ten years. Your feedback helps us to shape our Long-Term Plan 2024-2034, which sets out our work and budget for the next decade.

Read our consultation document, which outlines the issues and choices facing our community for the next ten years. You can also read the draft Long-Term Plan 2024-34, as information that supports our consultation document.

The Long-Term Plan 2024-2034 is expected to be adopted by Council, post-consultation in June 2024.

Our Long-Term Plan represents a three-yearly review of our council activities. It's been developed in response to your community views, legislative changes from central government, and work required to achieve our environmental, social, economic and cultural wellbeings.

Consultation document

What we’re asking you to consider

As we look at how we navigate a way forward, there are many challenges facing our Islands. In our consultation document you’ll see that we’re looking at:

• How we manage our reliance on external funding
• How we meet future legislative requirements regarding three waters
• Our inability to invest in critical infrastructure
• A potential rates rise

What are the options?

How we manage our reliance on external funding

The Chatham Islands are small and unable to fund Council’s activities without support from Central Government.

• Should Council advocate for additional funds from Central Government or advocate to reduce the work we need to do as part of the Chatham Islands Council Act 1995?

How we meet future legislative requirements regarding water

Local water done well

In December 2023, Central Government announced a new direction for water services – local water done well. The outcome of this is unknown and so it has been assumed that the responsibility for managing three waters, including providing levels of service, collection of rates, and payment of operating and capital expenditure (including any associated debt repayment), will remain with the Council.

• Should Council not complete this work, and therefore not comply with current and future regulations, or advocate to reduce the work we need to do as part of the Chatham Islands Council Act 1995?

Freshwater

Current practices on the Chatham Islands in relation to farm and freshwater management are behind current practices on mainland New Zealand and we are unlikely to be able to achieve compliance with the freshwater policy within the required timeframes.

• Should Council identify areas of the freshwater policy we believe we are unable to comply with and seek approval from the Government to limit the application of the freshwater policy or simply not comply with the freshwater policy?

A potential rates rise

Addressing an average cash loss of $500,000 each year

Our budget for the next ten years includes inflation and works we’re committed to, however, this places us at an average cash loss of $500,000 each year of the Long-Term Plan, which is financially unsustainable.

• Should Council decrease our level of expenditure on uncommitted projects, increase our rates, or do a mixture of both?

Balancing affordability with action

During a rates review, we determined that our rates are lower than what other councils across New Zealand are charging.

• Should we lift the rates to cover the funding shortfall, lift the rates to be more in line with other councils over time or lift rates to cover inflation only?

Water metering

We’ve heard from our community that the approach to setting our water targeted rates could be improved to more equitably allocate water rates to those who use the service.

• Before we do more work, we want to know, should we introduce water metering in the future, or keep the status quo?

Make a submission

We would appreciate you reading through the consultation document and letting us know how you think Council should navigate the way forward.
Submissions are open between Friday 3 May and Monday 3 June.

Submissions can be:

• Filled out online - complete the survey(external link)
• Dropped off at Council
• Emailed to info@chathamislands.govt.nz
• Posted to:

Submission
Chatham Islands Council
PO Box 24
Chatham Islands

• Those who wish to speak to their submission are invited to hearings on Tuesday 11 June.

Long-Term Plan 2021-2031

This is our current LTP until our new document is adopted.

We remain reliant on external support from central government. Operating within these funding constraints, impacts on our ability to delivery expected services to our community. Our focus for the next ten years is to secure funding for key projects:

• Upgrading our three waters infrastructure at Waitangi for water and wastewater and Kaingaroa for water.
• Extending our waste management and minimisation facilities, including a sludge lagoon and new landfill development.
• Developing our roading infrastructure, including securing funding support for the Owenga wharf loading ramp and Strengthening the Kaingaroa wharf.

Current document