20 Jun 2024

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After months of work, Councillors will meet next week to approve Christchurch’s roadmap for the next decade.

The Long Term Plan 2024–2034 (LTP) sets out Christchurch City Council’s plans for the next 10 years and how it will pay for them. It is set to be adopted by the end of June.  

Read the agenda here.

Mayor Phil Mauger says that when compared to other councils around New Zealand, Christchurch City Council has navigated 2024’s choppy financial waters in a relatively strong position.  

“It all boils down to ‘The Three I’s’ – inflation, interest rates, and insurance costs,” Mayor Mauger says. 

“These three factors alone are responsible for most of the rates increase we're considering next week. They’re also behind the growing costs that businesses and households across the country are experiencing. 

“The last thing we want to do is add to the burden on our community, so our focus from day one has been keeping any increase manageable.”

But we know that any increase has a significant impact on people’s back pocket, so we must continue to find ways to reduce our costs as we implement this LTP, and that’s what we’ll be weighing up on Tuesday.” 

“When we began this process last year, we were staring at a projected rates increase of nearly 20%,” Mayor Mauger says. 

“Our target was a rates increase between 9% and 12%, without any of our services being compromised, and the plan we will debate on Tuesday has a rates increase of 9.95%." 

Tuesday’s Council meeting will start in the Council Chamber at 9.30am, and will be livestreamed. 

The Mayor’s recommendations are also on the table for discussion on Tuesday. This is the full list of changes from the Draft based on guidance from Councillors during the recent public workshops.

These include some of the bigger issues that came out of consultation, including support for The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora, Orana Park, and the Council’s commitment to helping our communities adapt to the impacts of climate change and natural hazards and have been included with minimal impact on rates.