Draft Annual Plan 2023/24

Climate resilience

With sea levels rising and storm surges becoming more frequent, the effects of climate change are already being felt in Christchurch.

We’re adapting to our changing environment and making decisions in the face of uncertainty. This Annual Plan continues to draw on the commitments to climate resilience we set out in the Long Term Plan 2021–31, as well as set the scene for further work in the Long Term Plan 2024–34.

While we’re still considering the details, there’s also a firm commitment to the proposed Climate Emergency Response Fund (CERF) funding offered to Christchurch to help us with climate-related initiatives.

Affordability

Our city is growing. That means more people contributing to our economy, but it also means more demand for services.

You’ve told us to keep rates as low as we can while continuing to invest in our city for future generations – this requires a careful balance of priorities and funding while weighing up the effects of inflation, rising interest rates and the ongoing ripples of COVID-19.

Keeping our roads, footpaths, facilities and assets up to standard

Upgrading our aging infrastructure is always a focus, and we’re continuing with our programme of repairs, maintenance and enhancements.

We’re delivering $15.3 billion in capital projects over the next 30 years. We’re taking the same approach we took last year when we adjusted our budgets: focusing on what we can realistically do, given the wider economic environment.

Water

With nationwide water reform in the pipeline, the Council will maintain its focus on protecting our water source and ensuring Christchurch’s water is safe and secure.

We’re also continuing to invest in the infrastructure required for the collection and disposal of wastewater and stormwater.

Water reforms

The Government is establishing four independent entities to deliver the wastewater, stormwater and drinking water services that are currently being provided by local authorities.

Until 1 July 2024, when those entities are up and running, local authorities will continue to be responsible for providing water services to their communities.

All councils are required to include performance standards, or ‘levels of service’ in their Long Term Plans. As part of this Draft Annual Plan, we propose some minor changes for 2023/24 to the following:

You can find more information about these proposed changes to our levels of service in the Draft Annual Plan

[1] These two mandatory level of service measures and targets are being changed to appropriately reflect Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) and Office of the Auditor General (OAG) guidance received during audit of the Annual Report 2022.

[2] The targets are being adjusted to reflect delays in the opening of two new facilities: Matatiki: Hornby Centre, expected opening early 2024, and Parakiore Recreation and Sport Facility, expected opening early 2025.

[3] Proposed changes to targets to simplify language, to measure outcomes rather than activity, and/or to reflect the current opportunity in the market.

Spending

Operational expenditure for 2023/24 is $48.4 million more than what was forecast in the LTP.

This includes the overall inflation of $24.5 million, which is higher than forecast, and cost increases we have little control over – things like insurance, electricity and road condition assessment, which amount to $9.1 million.

A further $7.5 million relates to consenting volumes and the extended Burwood landfill operations, both of which are offset by higher revenue. $3 million relates to a timing change in the Cathedral restoration grant, which has no impact on rates.

The remaining major changes are below:

• Investing $2.05 million in a coordinated effort to attract major events to Christchurch, which accounts for 0.32% of the proposed rates increase. With new opportunities presented by the completion of Te Pae, Te Kaha, Parakiore etc., this will enable Christchurch’s agencies to plan together for maximum benefit, and for ratepayers and businesses to see the positive impact of these major investments.
• $2 million towards creating a roving footpath maintenance crew. Staff are working with contractors to plan the concept of having contractor-based crews who would proactively address any issues on footpaths in their contracted area. The cost is eligible for a Waka Kotahi subsidy of 51%, so the impact on the proposed rates increase is 16%.
• Some one-off actions we’re taking to reduce rates next year include reviewing our unfilled vacancies list and removing some roles permanently, while deferring recruitment on others for 2023/24. Using the Council Group subventions has provided some additional one-off savings for 2023/24.
• An $8.5 million reduction in spending due to the change to the scheduled opening date for Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre and Matatiki: Hornby Centre has partially offset some of the increases, noting this saving will be offset by lower revenue. Although capital programme borrowing is less than planned, because of interest rate rises net interest costs are $9.3 million higher than projected in the LTP. 
• Using $1 million of the Capital Endowment Fund for grants that would normally be funded by rates. This fund is used for civic and community, innovation, economic development and looking after the environment, and has a higher-than-planned income due to higher interest rates. This has reduced proposed rates by 0.16%.

The Council's Capital Endowment Fund (CEF) earns interest on investments, which we then use to make Economic and Community grants. Thanks to higher interest rates, we have more money than usual available to distribute this year.

We propose using some of those funds to reduce the rates increase facing our ratepayers for 2023/24 – by using $1 million from the CEF to fund grants that are normally funded by rates, it would have a savings impact of 0.16% on our overall average rate increase, which we’ve incorporated into the proposed 5.68%. This would leave $557,000 available in the CEF for the grants that it normally funds.

Another option is to only use $500,000, which would leave $1.057 million available for CEF grants. This would reduce the savings impact on our overall average rate increase to 0.08%, bringing it to 5.76%.

Which option do you prefer? Have your say(external link)

Revenue

Excluding property-based rates, which are our biggest source of revenue, our total revenue for 2023/24 is $459.6 million – $149.4 million higher than what was forecast in the LTP.

Significant changes in this year’s Draft Annual Plan from the LTP are:

• Crown funding of $87.2 million for Te Kaha due to changes to the project’s timing.
• Higher net interest revenues ($4.7 million), reflecting the impact of rising interest rates on funds.
• Increased Waka Kotahi capital subsidies ($24.4 million), largely due to additional eligible funding for Climate Emergency Response Fund (CERF) projects.
• Higher subvention receipts planned ($12.2 million) and other cost recoveries and revenues ($11.9 million) relating mainly to consenting and landfill operations (see above).
• A proposed increase to the differential on business property rates to help mitigate the impact of the latest revaluation and keep the proportion of rates paid by business properties the same. See more about this in the section on Changes to rates. 
• As noted earlier, expected revenue of $8.5 million from Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre has been reduced due to the scheduled opening date changing.
• Capital revenue reductions include a $5 million grant for the Performing Arts Precinct, now budgeted in 2024/25 due to project delays, and retimed Shovel Ready revenues ($8.4 million) to align with updated planned capital delivery.

Borrowing

We propose $241 million of new borrowing in the Draft Annual Plan to help us deliver our capital programme in 2023/24 – $171 million lower than planned for in the LTP. We also propose to repay $60.2 million of existing debt.

Gross debt at 30 June 2024 is expected to be $2.53 billion – $377.6 million lower than planned in the LTP. This is mostly as a result of reprioritised capital delivery over the LTP period. Overall, 20.3% of Council rates will contribute to debt servicing and repayment costs, lower than the 24% forecast in the LTP.

You can find more about the proposed changes to our spending, revenue and borrowing in the Draft Annual Plan.(external link)

The average proposed rates increase across all ratepayers – households, and business and rural properties – is 5.68%.

The proposed average rates increase for 2023/24 for a typical household is 5.79%.

However, these increases could change, depending on whether some proposed changes to how we charge rates go ahead as part of this Annual Plan.

These increases relate to Christchurch City Council’s rates, not to Environment Canterbury’s (ECan) rates. Because we collect these on ECan’s behalf, you’ll also see their rates on your invoices.

Your rates

Your rates are used to pay for day-to-day operational spending – running the social infrastructure that helps people connect and builds strong, resilient communities, as well as capital renewal and replacement projects.

That means maintaining neighbourhood parks and sports fields, running swimming pools and community meeting places, and making sure we have a safe and reliable water supply. We borrow to pay for the remainder of our capital programme.

Many of our activities are a mix of capital and operational spending. For example, building a new footpath is capital spending, while repairing a pothole in a footpath is operational spending.

Rates are a tax on property, and most are collected in proportion to the property value – properties with higher values pay more.

Rates increases for an individual property will depend on:

• The property’s classification (whether it’s a standard, business or remote rural property).
• Which rates the property pays (for example, a property only pays the sewer rate if it’s within the sewer serviced area).
• The capital value of the property, and the extent to which it may have changed in the 2022 revaluation relative to other properties.
• How many ‘separately used or inhabited parts’ (SUIPs) the property has. Fixed rates are paid based on the number of SUIPs. For example, a property with two flats will pay two fixed charges. Most residential properties have only one SUIP.

The 2022 revaluation

Every three years, the Council is  legally required to carry out a city-wide revaluation of every property for rating purposes. Quotable Value Ltd has recently completed its latest revaluation, and the new valuations will apply from 1 July 2023.

Broadly, property values across the city have increased substantially in the 2022 revaluation compared with the previous revaluation three years ago, particularly for residential property. Residential values increased by an average of 47.7%, while business properties saw a 24.4% increase.

The revaluation doesn’t affect the total rates collected by Christchurch City Council, but it does affect how this is shared out between property owners.

You can check the new valuations for your property(external link), along with your forecast rates for 2023/24.

Our proposed business differential on the general rate

The significant increase in the residential valuations will move more of the rates burden from business to residential ratepayers. Without some action from the Council, this will increase rates for most residential ratepayers while reducing rates for most business ratepayers.

At present, business properties account for 22% of the city’s capital value and pay 26% of all our total rates. To keep the proportion of rates paid by business properties the same, we’re proposing to increase their general rate differential.

The current business differential is 1.697, which means a business property pays general rates at 1.697 times what a standard property with the same capital value pays. The proposed differential on business properties of 2.22 would scale up the contribution that business properties make to general rates. The City Vacant differential would also increase from 4 to 4.523. The differential does not apply to any targeted rates like sewerage and water supply. Lowering the Uniform Annual General Charge would impact these figures too.

While this is a significant change in the business differential, the result will be that the business sector as a whole pays the same proportion of overall rates that it currently does.

This reflects the concept that the relative benefits they get from the Council’s services haven’t significantly changed. It also means that rates increases for residential ratepayers are more affordable, with average increases in both sectors matching the overall average.

It’s worth noting that Christchurch currently charges the lowest business differential of all main cities in the country.

• Christchurch: 1.697
• Dunedin: 2.46
• Auckland: 2.642 (explicit policy to reduce this slowly over time)
• Hamilton: 2.9765
• Nelson: 3.35 (inner city commercial differential is 3.64) (Nelson general rate is based on land value)
• Wellington: 3.70

We also propose to increase the City Vacant Differential from 4 to 4.523 to maintain the same gap between the business differential and the City Vacant Differential.

The remote rural differential will remain unchanged at 0.75.

Extending the City Vacant Differential rating to the commercial areas of New Brighton, Lyttelton, Sydenham and Linwood Village

While this won’t affect next year’s annual plan, we would like your feedback on a proposal to extend the City Vacant Differential rating from 1 July 2024. We introduced the City Vacant differential rating in 2022 to encourage owners of vacant land in the central city to keep their sites neat and tidy, and now we want to consider extending this to other areas of the city with the same issues.

The City Vacant Differential rating(external link) reflected the fact that owners of vacant and derelict land – with lower capital values – were not making a fair contribution through their general rating towards the projects and initiatives the Council has had to fund to offset the negative effects of this type of site. The new City Vacant rating has encouraged many owners to look at how they keep their land in order to secure exemptions and remissions.

In a 2022 survey, vacant land was found to make up more than 10% of the commercial area in four of our suburban centres – New Brighton, Lyttelton, Sydenham and Linwood Village. Despite the Council supporting projects and activities to help improve the environment and/or stimulate activity in these areas, the appearance and upkeep of vacant land is undermining the appeal of investing in these suburban centres.    

With this in mind, we’d like to hear your views about:

• From 1 July 2024, extending the use of City Vacant Differential rating in the commercially zoned areas of New Brighton, Lyttelton, Sydenham and Linwood Village so that vacant site owners contribute towards ratepayer funded projects that improve the environment or stimulate activity.
• Other measures the Council could be taking, specifically in these four suburban centres, to help incentivise new investment or site improvement.

How the proposed rates increases could affect you

If we increase the business differential from 1.697 to 2.22 as proposed, and the UAGC remains at the $153 proposed, rates increases for an average house and an average business would both be close to the overall average of 5.68%. The business sector’s share of overall rates would remain at 26%, like it is at present.

All rates listed below include GST.

Remember: the best way to find out exactly what your rates could be from 1 July 2023 is to look up your property(external link).

Residential property rates

A typical house will see a rates increase of 5.79%

Typical residential houses with different capital values will experience slightly different rates increases.

The following table shows average rates increases for residential properties based on their 2022 valuation, with the proposed differentials applied, and assuming the capital value for each property has increased by the average for houses of 47.7%.

The proposed 5.79% increase for residential properties is slightly higher than the 5.68% overall rates increase across all ratepayers we’ve proposed for 2023/24. Some properties will increase more than that, and others less. In general, here’s how it will work:

• If your house valuation increased by more than the average of 47.7%, your rates increase will be somewhat higher than 79%.
• If your house valuation increased by less than 47.7%, your rates increase will be somewhat lower than 79%.

Business property rates

A typical business property would see a rates increase of 5.83%

Typical business properties with different capital values will experience slightly different rates increases. Based on their 2022 valuation, with the proposed differentials applied, and assuming the capital value for each property has increased by the average for businesses of 24.4%, those average increases are:

Remote rural property

A typical farm property would see a rates increase of 0.69%

Typical farms with different capital values will experience slightly different rates increases. Based on their 2022 valuation, with the proposed differentials applied, and assuming the capital value for each property has increased by the average for rural properties of 50.1%, those average increases are:

What happens if we don’t change the differentials?

The average overall rates increase for 2023/24 is 5.68%. If we don’t change the differentials, that increase will be directed more towards standard (mainly residential) properties and away from businesses. Rates for an average value house with a new capital value of $764,364 would increase by 10.2%, assuming the house increased 47.7% in value, and that it pays the most common set of rates. In contrast, rates for an average-sized business property with a capital value of $2.44 million would fall by 7.1%. The business sector’s share of overall rates would fall from 26% to 23%.

A potential change to our Uniform Annual General Charge

We want your opinion on whether we should consider lowering the Uniform General Annual Charge (UAGC) to try and reduce the impact on the revaluation increases on some of our lower income households.

Doing this would also mean the shortfall caused by this reduction would need to be recovered from the capital value portion of our general rate.

The UAGC is a fixed portion of every rates bill charged across all ratepayers, and reflects that many of the things the Council does – like roads, parks, libraries, etc. – benefit everyone equally. We do it to avoid placing too much weight on the capital value of people's homes as the basis for the rates we charge, and gives us a wider tax base.

How our current UAGC compare with other councils:

What options are we looking at?

Our proposal(A): Our current proposal, which is reflected in this draft plan, is a UAGC of $153 in 2023/24. Our current UAGC is $145 a year, and Christchurch’s fixed charges are among the lowest in New Zealand. The proposed increase to $153 is in line with the current proportion of your rates bill that forms the UAGC, and is in line with the overall rates increase.

The alternative (B): We want your feedback on an alternative of setting the UAGC at a lower value of $50. The thinking behind this is that reducing the UAGC would lower the overall rates on properties with a lower capital value. Doing this would leave a $17 million shortfall in the Council's rates take, which we'd need to make up for by charging more of our rates purely on the basis of capital value. In general, this would mean properties with a lower value would pay a lower general rate than we propose, and properties with a higher value would pay more. The proposed business differential would need to be adjusted from 2.22 to 2.11 to keep the same proportion of rates paid by the business sector. The City Vacant Differential would need to change from 4.523 to 4.413.

What it might look like

Under the alternative option, the average-value house of $764,364 would face a higher rates increase of $189 or 5.97%. However, a relatively lower-value property of $300,000 would see its rates increase compared with the previous year by $11 or 8%. At the other end of the scale, a relatively higher-value house of $2 million would see a larger increase of $661 or 8.6%.

 Find more detail about what a change to the UAGC could mean for you(external link).

What else to keep in mind

Lowering the UAGC would also benefit more than 3400 small, non-residential properties like power kiosk sites, vacant land, garages, storage sheds and car parks. They would all pay lower rates, and all other ratepayers would need to cover the shortfall.

Low income households also have other support to pay their rates, including the Government-funded rates rebate – which can be up to $700, much more than the UAGC – and rates postponements, which let people aged 65 or older and those in financial hardship draw on the equity in their properties to pay their rates.

We'd like to hear from you about which option you prefer – our proposed option with a UAGC of $153, or the alternative option with a lower UAGC of $50 but a higher capital value charge. 

A change to our Excess Water Supply Targeted Rate

The main reason we've introduced the Excess Water Supply Targeted Rate(external link) to help reduce the extreme demand on our water supply network at certain times, particularly over summer. If we can do this, it means we won't have to spend as much money upgrading and building new infrastructure to cope with the extreme demand. We’ve projected that this rate could result in an estimated $17 million in capital expenditure being deferred in the next 10 years. 

At the moment, residential properties have an allowance of 700 litres of water a day before we start charging for their excess water supply. We’re proposing increasing this average daily allowance to 900 litres from 1 July 2023. This proposal is already included in our proposed 5.68% rates increase, and it accounts for 0.10% of it in 2023/24. If the proposal doesn’t go ahead and the limit stays at 700, it would reduce the overall rates increase by 0.10%. 

Have your say on these proposals.(external link)

 The Draft Annual Plan shows our commitment to our priorities for the capital programme:

• Maintaining and renewing our water supply and stormwater infrastructure.
• Improving our roads and footpaths.
• Maintaining our parks and riverbanks.
• Completing the Major Cycle Routes so we can deliver longstanding commitments and make the most of Government subsidies that may not be available later.
• Building new facilities.
• Adapting to climate change.

We’ve reviewed the whole capital programme with a focus on deliverability– there’s no need to charge the ratepayer for work in 2023/24 if we don’t think we’ll be realistically able to do it that year.

With an ever-changing economic environment created by supply chain issues, cost escalation, the Government’s proposed reforms, and the availability of people to actually do all the work, we’re being realistic about what we can deliver and by when. That means we’ll invest a total of $616 million in the capital programme in 2023/24. This is $137 million less than what was in the LTP 2021, amended by the FY23 Annual Plan. We’ve focused this re-phasing mainly on Transport, Three Waters and Waste, where $137 million has been removed from FY24 and will instead be spent throughout the balance of the LTP up to 2031. This results in a roughly 0.5% rates reduction in 2023/24, accumulating to 2% in 2024/25.

Next year, you’ll get the chance to have a say on which capital projects are prioritised in 2024/25, including those deferrals from FY24, when we consult on the Long Term Plan 2024–34. By this time, the impacts of the Three Waters reform will become clearer. In addition, we’ll continue to keep our programme of capital works focused on what’s actually achievable each year, and over 10 years. We owe it to ratepayers to keep our budgets no bigger than they need to be.

Our capital programme is funded by a mixture of different pots of money: rates and debt, earthquake recovery payments, subsidies and grants, development contributions and proceeds from asset sales. In 2023/24, we propose to rate for $193 million of renewals of infrastructure and facilities across Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.

The reprioritised capital programme budget includes changes in the following areas below.

Community facilities

Construction is currently underway on some significant major facilities. We’ve awarded the contracts and funded the projects accordingly to match construction schedules – these include Te Kaha, Matatiki: Hornby Centre, and The Court Theatre in the Performing Arts Precinct.

We propose rephasing the planned rebuild of the South Library and Service Centre building, pushing $5.5 million to a future year, as we’ll spend 2023/24 doing upfront planning, scoping and design, and to confirm external Better Off funding support from the Government. We’re keeping $3 million in 2023/24.

We propose to push out $5.9 million in renewals for Jellie Park and Pioneer recreation and sport centres to give time for Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre to be completed. Doing this work later will mean we won’t disrupt these important community facilities before we have Parakiore available as an alternative.

We’re rephasing $2.1 million in 2023/24 to allow early commencement of the planned first stage of work to restore the Canterbury Provincial Chambers building.

Three Waters

In order to better align with design, securing resource consents, community engagement and the limitations of seasonal works, we propose pushing out $13.7 million in the stormwater and flood protection and control programme. However, a lot of work continues in this area with excellent progress and continued funding in the Ōpāwaho/Heathcote catchments and throughout the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor programme.

Recent events around New Zealand demonstrate the importance of continued investment for improved resilience and water quality in this area. At time of writing, we don’t expect the anticipated repair programmes in the North Island (in response to damage created by Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023) to have any demonstrable effect on market capacity in Christchurch. However, detailed assessments of repairs and reinstatement costs haven’t been completed yet. The impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle won’t help ease inflated market prices.

To help us deliver the projects reliably given the difficult market conditions at the moment, we propose pushing out $20 million for the water supply programme and $26.9 million for the wastewater programme.

Transport

While we complete the first stage of investigation work on the Pages Road Bridge, we propose pushing out the $6.4 million we’ve earmarked for its construction. We’re in the first stage right now, and it involves working through details including consents, hearings and coordination with adjoining streets.

When we first scheduled this project, we had to indicate when we thought construction would start. Now that we've completed more detailed planning, that timing has shifted, and we want to avoid charging ratepayers money for construction that we won’t be doing that year. However, this project remains a high priority for the community and the city as a whole.

We also propose pushing out approximately $23 million for environment projects, mostly in the cycleways programme, to better align them to when we can deliver them more reliably under difficult market conditions, and $10 million for safety projects. We propose not starting construction on the Wheels to Wings cycleway for 12 months to give councillors and staff time to work closely with the community to address concerns about the cycleway’s design. We also propose bringing forward $300,000 to support improvements to New Brighton Mall's public realm.

With support from external funding – the Christchurch Regeneration Acceleration Facility (CRAF) and the Climate Emergency Response Fund (CERF) – we’re still prioritising our community-focused safety and environment programme of projects. We propose deferring a number of transport projects valued at $4.4 million to allow us to make use of up to $23.1 million of CERF funding, and to help us deliver them more reliably under difficult market conditions.

Waste

In April 2022, the Council agreed in principle to move the existing Bromley organics processing operation to an alternative location. In June 2022, the Council approved the procurement plan for a new organics processing facility, and we’re now mid-way through the procurement process. In the meantime, the funding for the organics processing plant has been rephased to FY26/28 to meet the likely delivery programme. Once the Council makes a decision on a new plant, we’ll rephase the funding programme to suit the construction of the new facility.

You can find more information about the schedule of proposed changes to our capital programme in the Draft Annual Plan.(external link)

The easiest way to see all our proposed changes at a glance is using our online search tool(external link), a handy guide to the Council projects that are affected by the Draft Annual Plan. Search by the area you live in, the type of project, the project name or even just a key word, and see at a glance

We’re proposing to change some Council fees and charges in the Draft Annual Plan.

We’re conscious of the financial pressure many of our residents and ratepayers are under, and we’ve attempted to avoid cost increases to the community that would create a barrier for them using our services.

In other areas the proposed fee increase is in keeping with the increased costs the Council is facing. Fees in some areas are staying the same.

You can find more information about these proposed changes to our fees and charges in the Draft Annual Plan.(external link)

The Council has a small number of properties which are no longer being used for the purpose they were originally acquired for. We want your feedback as part of this Draft Annual Plan to help us decide the future of each property. A full list of the properties and more information can be found on our website(external link).

The properties we’re putting up for consideration make up less than 1% of the Council’s overall portfolio and won’t affect current levels of service. The Council owns many types of properties of all different shapes and sizes, and that portfolio is growing – since 2011, it’s grown by more than 11% (1020 hectares, or about 6.2 Hagley Parks), and we know that there’s more to come. Because owning property has a cost, it’s good financial practice to continually review the portfolio and decide whether to keep or dispose of properties that are no longer being used for their original purpose.

When doing this, our first step is to identify likely properties and assess them against the criteria for retention. These criteria include whether the property is being used for the purpose it was originally acquired for, its cultural, environmental or heritage value, and whether or not it can meet any of the Council’s immediate or longer-term needs. Properties that don’t meet the retention criteria go onto the shortlist to be considered for disposal.

We’ve now reached the next step – consulting the public. If, following consultation, this proposal is adopted and included in the Annual Plan 2023/24, all properties determined to be surplus will be disposed of in a manner as set out in Council’s policy and normal practices:

• Policy – publicly tendering properties for sale unless there is a clear reason for doing otherwise.
• Practice – in an open, transparent, well-advertised and public manner at market value. This may include methods other than tender, such as auction, deadline sale or general listing.

Where it’s appropriate, the Council may consider departing from these practices to give effect to the Housing Policy we adopted in 2016. This could result in the land being used to deliver the outcomes of that policy, like selling land to other housing providers for them to develop and/or deliver social and affordable housing.

This consultation process also covers the consultation we need to do if the land identified in the list of properties is a:

• Park: This is land acquired or used principally for community, recreational, environmental, cultural, or spiritual purposes. Under section 138 of the Local Government Act 2002, we need to consult if we plan to lease this land for more than six months (and it has the effect of excluding or substantially interfering with public access to the park) or sell it.
• Reserve under the Reserves Act 1977: A decision to declare a reserve “surplus” will implicitly include a decision to revoke the “reserve” classification. The Reserves Act requires us to serve notice under section 24(2)(c) if we’re considering revoking the reserve status. This consultation covers the requirement, and anyone who wishes to object to the proposed revocation of the status of the land indicated as reserve by the Council must do so in writing within one month after the first publication of the Draft Annual Plan (being notification of the proposal). Submitters should also state if they wish to appear before the Council as the administrating body.

Have your say on these proposals(external link)

Venue

The hearings will be in held in the Council Chamber, Level 2, Civic Offices, 53 Hereford Street, Christchurch.

We also offer the opportunity to present via audio/visual link if required, further details are provided below.

Who you present to

You will be speaking to the Council. Its members are:

The Mayor, Phil Mauger (Chairperson).

Deputy Mayor Pauline Cotter, Councillors Kelly Barber, Melanie Coker, Celeste Donovan, Tyrone Fields, Jamie Gough, Tyla Harrison-Hunt, Victoria Henstock, Yani Johanson, Aaron Keown, Sam MacDonald, Jake McLellan, Andrei Moore, Mark Peters, Tim Scandrett and Sara Templeton.

Please note that the hearings will be live-streamed on the Council website, with the recordings retained on the web for future viewing.

Speaking time limit

A time limit has had to be set to make sure everyone that has requested to be heard gets an equal opportunity to speak. Due to the large number of submitters that asked to be heard and the limited time available to hear everyone, your cooperation in keeping to the time allocated is most appreciated.

When you arrive

Please arrive at least 10 minutes prior to your hearing time in case we are running ahead of time. Before entering the Council Chamber, please report to the check-in station just outside the Chamber doors on level 2.

When it is your turn to speak, the Chair will call your name and invite you to come forward to the presenters’ desk. There is a microphone on this desk to ensure you can be heard throughout the room and for the live-streaming.

Preparing for the hearing

The Councillors will have read your submission before the hearing and will have it in front of them. We suggest that you use your allocated time to highlight or emphasise the main points of your written submission. We do not recommend simply reading out your submission. Please remember, if Councillors have any questions to ask you, these come out of your total time allocation.

Consultation is about the Council seeking your opinion on issues affecting you, your community and the entire city. It is about your participation in the decision-making process.

Consultation is not a referendum. Your submission will be carefully considered by the Council but it may not necessarily result in the change you suggest. 

Hearings are not an opportunity to debate or question the Mayor, Councillors or Council officers.

When you have finished speaking, please remain at the table in case there are any questions, if there is time available.

PowerPoint presentation and other documents

PowerPoint/presentation facilities are available. To ensure compatibility, please provide files by noon the working day prior to your hearing date. We will provide these to the Mayor and Councillors in advance of the meeting.

Please email these to: cccplan@ccc.govt.nz.

When presenting we will have your presentation/document readily available on the screen. There is a laptop and mouse available at the presenter’s desk so you can control the presentation.

Privacy and records

The information you provide and speak about will be part of the public record. Presentations and handouts will be circulated and published. Please ensure that if these involve any information about an identifiable individual that you have that person’s permission to share it.

The Council is subject to the Privacy Act 2020 but it is the responsibility of the person providing the information that they do not breach a person’s privacy.

Support person/people 

You can bring a support person or people with you. If they will be presenting with you, please let us know their name(s), so we can include them in the minutes record.

Accessibility and facilities

The Council Chambers is fitted with a hearing loop and headsets are available for use. Please ask for assistance when you arrive at the hearing.

There are public lifts on the ground and first floors that will take you to level 2.

There are a number of cafes in the vicinity and also a public café on the first floor of the Civic building.

If you need any special assistance on the day please email us at cccplan@ccc.govt.nz as early as possible so we can try to accommodate your requirements.

Attending remotely

You are welcome to participate remotely via audio-visual means. We are currently using Zoom. Please advise us at least 2 working days before the hearing if you want to present remotely. If you have not used Zoom before, we can send you instructions and assist you with this.

If you were intending to present in person but on the day are not able to, please contact us as soon as possible and we can provide the Zoom details to you. Email us at cccplan@ccc.govt.nz.

Please note: we cannot guarantee remote attendance facilities. Audio visual links can fail and other technological problems sometimes occur. If we are unable to facilitate your scheduled audio-visual attendance we will try to reschedule you but cannot guarantee this will be possible.

Change of mind about presenting a submission

You are welcome to withdraw your intention to be heard should you change your mind. The Councillors will still consider your written submission.

Conversely, if you had indicated on your submission that you did not want to be heard, but now you do, we can accommodate your request so long as hearings are still underway. Please get in touch with us as soon as possible by emailing cccplan@ccc.govt.nz.

Live-streaming

Please note that the hearings will be live-streamed on the Council website, with the recordings retained on the web for future viewing.