Current Consultations

Draft Long Term Plan 2025 - 2034

Have Your Say on Our Future – Long-Term Plan 2025-2034

We’re Planning for the Next 9 Years – Your Voice Matters!

We are developing our Long-Term Plan (LTP) 2025-2034, and we want to hear from you. This plan will shape the future of our district—guiding decisions on infrastructure, community services, environmental sustainability, and more.

Your feedback helps us prioritise what matters most. This is your opportunity to influence how we invest in roads, water, parks, libraries, community facilities, and economic development over the next decade.

What is the Long-Term Plan?

The LTP is the Council’s key strategic document, outlining our vision, priorities, and planned projects for the next nine years. It includes:

Proposed projects and services
How we plan to fund them (including rates and borrowing)
The impact on our community and environment

Find a copy of our draft Long Term Plan below.

Make your submission

Read our Consultation Document and FAQ's to learn more about the proposed plans and key decisions we need your input on.

Draft Long Term Plan 2025 - 2034 Submission Form

What's in our Plan?

What's behind our plan?

Our Long Term Plan is guided by three core goals:

resilience,
sustainability, and
affordability.

Through this plan we aim to invest in and renew our infrastructure in the to help our communities build resilience, support growth and position ourselves to adapt to uncertainties.

We also need to be prepared to respond and adapt to legislative reform and deliver our water services in the most affordable manner.

We have reviewed our internal limit on rates increases, moving the benchmark to 7% to allow us to meet required and expected levels of service over the life of the plan. We also reviewed our debt limit and have set ourselves a limit of no more than $140 of borrowing to every $100 we receive in revenue.

Read the Consultation Document to learn more.

What are we consulting on?

This year, we're seeking your feedback on:

Pakiwaitara building - 41 Weld Street	Should the Council sell the Pakiwaitara building, and if so, when?
Hannah's Clearing Landfill remediation	Should the Council include the project to remediate Hannah’s Clearing landfill in the Long Term Plan while we seek external funding?
Jackson Bay Wharf repair	Should the Council include the Jackson Bay Wharf repair project in the Long Term Plan while we seek external funding?
Alternative West Coast Wilderness Trail route to Ross	Should the Council include the project to build an alternative route on the WCWT to Ross in the Long Term Plan while we seek external funding?
Dog registration restructure	Should the Council change the structure and cost of the dog registration fees?

Read the Consultation Document to learn more about the key decisions we need your input on.

How to have your say

We encourage everyone in our community to participate. Here’s how you can share your feedback:

Online Submission (preferred)
Email Us – Send your thoughts to consult@westlanddc.govt.nz
Mail or Drop Off Your Submission – Pick up a printed feedback form from the Council office.
Public Meetings Join us at our community meetings. Check out the schedule below.

Key dates

Submissions open: 9am, Monday 31 March 2025

Submissions close: 12pm, Friday 2 May 2025

No late submissions will be accepted.

Hearing, Deliberation and Decision: 9am, Wednesday 14 May 2025, and Thursday 15 May if necessary.

Long Term Plan adopted: Thursday 26 June

Community meetings

Monday, 31 March	5.30 pm - 7.30 pm	Haast	Heartland Hotel
Tuesday, 1 April	10.30 am - 12.30 pm	Fox Glacier	Fox Glacier Community Hall
Tuesday, 1 April	5.30 pm - 7.30 pm	Franz Josef	Franz Josef Medical Centre
Wednesday, 2 April	10.30 am - 12 pm	Hari Hari	Hari Hari Community Hall
Thursday, 3 April	6 pm - 8 pm	Hokitika	Hokitika Westland RSA
Monday, 7 April	2 pm - 3 pm	Ōkārito	Donovan's Store
Monday, 7 April	5.30 pm - 7.30 pm	Whataroa	Whataroa Community Hall
Tuesday, 8 April	9.30 am - 11 am	Franz Josef	Franz Josef Medical Centre
Tuesday, 8 April	2 pm - 3.30 pm	Ross	Ross Community Hall
Tuesday, 8 April	7 pm - 9 pm	Kumara	Kumara Memorial Hall
Wednesday, 9 April	10.30 am - 12 pm	Kokatahi	Kokatahi Community Hall
Thursday, 10 April	11 am - 1 pm	Hokitika	Former isite, Westland District Council, 36 Weld Street

Please NOTE:

In the larger community areas, we have offered more than one session.

Important Documents

Please note: submissions will be publicly available on the council’s website, through inclusion in council agendas, and/or retrievable by request under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987. Contact details will redacted under the Privacy Act 2020. Feedback containing profanity and / or offensive language will not be accepted.

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