“It will be the first of many, because we’re looking to get right down into all parts of the community, rural and urban, to hear their voice. We’ve got nothing to hide. We want to be right there, visible and transparent.”
Tripe believes throwing workshop doors wide open will “help [the] council’s reputation” and improve the public’s perception of council activities.
However, not all discussions would be aired publicly.
“We will have times when we’ve got some contentious or difficult matters to talk [about], and I think it’s appropriate at those times that … we turn the microphones off so we can have those free and frank discussions.”
He said a summary of off-air discussions could be provided.
The council is required to produce a long-term (10-year) plan every three years showing how activities will be managed, delivered and funded over the next decade. The 2024-2034 LTP must be completed by the end of June next year.
Council chief executive David Langford said building a 10-year visionary plan with budgets usually takes more than a year of behind-the-scenes work by council officers.
“Most of our community only get to see it in March or April when we present the consultation document to them. Often, councils are greeted with surprise from the community as they discover what’s in there.
“Part of the reason behind wanting to live-stream some of these workshops is to lift the curtain on all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes on so that our community can be part of the conversation as we build the plan, rather than simply being presented with the plan at the end of the process and asked to comment on it.”
Langford said he hoped opening the planning process to the community would “bring our community on the journey”.
“Also, I think it will build some acceptance and understanding so that our community really understands why things cost what they do, where their rates are going and the value they get from investing in services from the council.
“The rates increase we’ve seen this year is one of the highest this council has ever put out, and we’ve still got some challenges to come. Our community needs to see the process that we go through to manage our costs to make sure that this organisation is effective and efficient and that we are delivering genuine value.”
The workshop included presentations of supporting information, including population projections and how the council will engage with the community.
Council policy manager Elise Broadbent gave a summary of key statistics for the district. She said the ageing population was slightly higher than the national average, with 22 per cent aged 65 or older, compared with the national average of 16.4 per cent.
Whanganui’s working-age population – those aged from 15 to 64 – was 58.7 per cent, lower than the national average of 64.8 per cent.
The district had a high-dependency ratio of 70.3 per cent, significantly higher than the national average of 54.5 per cent, and the under-15 and over-65 age groups were both forecast to grow.
Employment growth was up over the past five years, tracking close to the national average, while unemployment last year was 3.9 per cent – the lowest unemployment rate in 20 years and down 5.4 per cent from the previous 12 months. It was still a higher rate of unemployment than the national average, Broadbent said.
The average household income grew 5.2 per cent for the year to March 2023, behind the national average of 5.9 per cent.
Consents for new dwellings peaked in 2021 (195) and were still high in 2022 (186) as the district continued to grow.
“We expect that to remain high in the short-term,” Broadbent said.
Mean annual earnings were $57,896, lower than the national average of $69,585 and Wellington city average of $86,616.
Out of 66 territorial authorities, Whanganui district ranked 23rd for housing affordability. The average house value was 5.5 times the average household income in 2023, compared to the national average of 7.4 times the household income.
According to the 2018 census, 55.2 per cent of people owned or partly owned their home in the Whanganui district.
Renters were paying an average of 9.1 per cent more weekly rent for the year to March 2023, greater than the national average rent rise of 4.8 per cent. The average weekly rent in Whanganui was $433 in 2023, lower than the national average of $525.
Broadbent said that, as a percentage of average household income, the average weekly rent in Whanganui was now higher than the national figure.
She said as of March 2023, there were about 300 families on the local social housing register.
People living in the district were predominantly NZ European (79.2 per cent), a figure higher than the national average of 70.2 per cent. Māori were 26.3 per cent of the population, significantly higher than the 16.5 per cent national figure. Pacific (3.6 per cent) and Asian (4.1 per cent) population numbers were significantly lower than the national average.
Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.
