Kawerau District Council

Media Release

For immediate release

28 April 2022

Council starts engaging for the draft Annual Plan 2022-2023

ENGAGING with the community provides a forum for discussion and questions to be answered and the opportunity for ideas and solutions.

This week, Kawerau District Council began engaging with Iwi and stakeholders regarding the draft Annual Plan 2022-2023.

The Council’s community engagement process runs in parallel with the submission timeframe which is open until 18 May 2022.

It includes a number of public meetings and stakeholder forums. The first public meeting will be held at 2pm next Tuesday, 3 May at the Kawerau Town Hall, followed by an evening public meeting on Thursday, 5 May at 5.30pm. In addition, Councillors and staff will be at the Kawerau Markets on Thursday, 12 May.

In addition, there are specific meetings with Iwi, Tangata Whenua and Hapū, one of which was held this week. Council will also meet with the commercial and industrial sector.

Council’s Communication and Engagement Manager Tania Humberstone said the aim was to inform the community on the upcoming plan, encourage discussion, ideas and submissions. 

Kawerau District Council was progressing well with the major projects that the community supported in the Long Term Plan, particularly the drinking water pipe replacement project. Council was also progressing the next residential development at Stoneham Park (the old Soccer Club grounds) with the next round of community engagement commencing soon.

However, the 2022-2023 year would not be without its challenges due to Covid-19 and the various local government reforms. In addition, the closure of Norske Skog, Kawerau’s biggest ratepayer and subsequent revaluation means approximately $1 million less in the rates collected.

If the Council keeps the current levels of service, the shortfall in rates needs to be met by other ratepayers. 

Presently, commercial and industrial businesses pay 55 percent of the rates, and residential properties the remaining 45 percent.

The Annual Plan outlines the option of keeping this 55:45 rating share, which means an average increase of 4.4 percent for residential rates. However, for commercial and industrial rates would increase by an average of 34.6 percent.

• Option one means Residential increases range from -8.5% (-$329) to 15% ($343)
• Option one means commercial/industrial increases range from 15.9% to 41.6%

If the rating share was changed to an even 50 percent share between both groups, the residential rates would increase by an average of 16.1 percent, but commercial and industrial rates by an average of 25.5 percent.

• Residential increases range from 1.6% ($62) to 26.4% ($552)
• Industrial/commercial increases range from 5.2% to 32.3%

In addition, the Council was seeking feedback about establishing a secure asbestos containment site at the same location as an existing secure asbestos cell that was already ‘capped and sealed’.

The asbestos site would be fully lined and only take low-grade asbestos contaminated material from certified commercial operators licensed to transport it.

The site is already regulated with a quarterly ground-water testing regime monitored by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. Every five years a full ecological report was required.

In parallel with seeking feedback from the community and stakeholders, the Council is formally consulting and engaging with Iwi as part of the required resource consent process.

The Council believes that it would be beneficial for Council developments, but also other developers in the Eastern Bay region providing a lower-cost option to safely dispose of contaminated soil and products containing lower levels of asbestos.

There is more information about the Annual Plan on the Council website and social media channels. In addition, a copy of the consultation document had been delivered to households in the Kawerau District.

Kawerau District Council Annual Plan 2022-2023 engagement timetable

ENDS

For more information, please contact Tania Humberstone on 027 464 3785 .