NP Ratepayers' Alliance

03/10/2026

Are you a budding photographer, or know someone who is ?

The NPDC is running a competition for the next photo which will feature on the gateway signs at Mangorei Road/Junction Road and Airport Drive/Devon Road, that welcome visitors to our city and tells locals they are home.

The winning photo will win a $500 gift card. The competition closes at 5pm on 30th October 2026.

Find out more here:

Got a favourite local snap? Share a photo that captures what makes our district special and you could win a gift voucher and see your image featured on the gateway signs welcoming visitors and locals home. Enter now and show us your best shot!

03/10/2026

The Bell Block Spatial Plan is open for consultation. We’ll have more about the consultation soon, but the NPDC is having a couple of drop in information sessions at the Bell Block Library.

If you want to know more, see the plans, or ask any questions, the drop in dates are:

Monday 5th October - 10am to Noon
Saturday 10th October – 10am to Noon

The full plan is 102 pages long – which doesn’t work for most people. We will put out some summary information soon, and some visual information. We think there may be some things people will want to comment about with this consultation.

27/09/2026

Wai Hononga Water Company Significance and Engagement Policy Consultation

Would you like to tell the Water Company whether you agree with the rules they have put together with how and when they will engage with you ?

We have sought legal advice about this document as the Water Company must legally follow the rules set in this document. The following are some of the issues that were raised with the proposed document.

A clause in Section 4.1 and the 3rd bullet point reads:

“Supporting mana whenua, hapū and iwi to uphold their tikanga, rangatiratanga, kaitiakitanga, mana motuhake and mana whakahaere aspirations through collaboration, co-design, resourcing and shared decision-making in matters relating to
te taiao, with their kaitiaki responsibilities”.

We will speak to this clause in our verbal submission, but you may like to ask that an English translation of this clause is added, so water consumers and ratepayers have an understanding of what these Maori words mean.

Clause 6.6 covers Community Expectations.

• There are 11 bullet points of the types of groups of people the Water Company wants to reach. They do not mention Water Consumers. You may want to ask them to add a bullet point with Water Consumers.

This wording is in the Wai Hononga Statement of Expectations Document:
“Reporting annually, at an appropriate level of detail, on engagement activities and how feedback has informed decision making”.

What is in the Statement of Expectations is meant to be in the Significance and Engagement policy. You may want to ask that annual reporting of how Community feedback has informed their decisions is added to the policy.

Table 1 – Indicative Level of Consultation – Page 10

• There are 5 boxes of categories with medium to low, high to medium, or a considerable impact. There is not a box which will engage with you about Debt. Would you like a box added that specifically mentions when the Water Company will engage with you about debt. The Water Company is expected to need to take on a reasonably significant amount of debt to meet the new water regulations the Government has set.

In Clause 9.4 Where engagement May Not Occur – Page 15

• The Water Company has a section stating they MAY not need to engage with you with Complex Financial or commercial arrangements. Just because arrangements are complex does not mean they automatically contain sensitive financial information, or would prejudice a competitive tender process. Complex arrangements may involve public-private partnerships, which water consumers, and ratepayers, may need to know more about. Complex financial or commercial arrangements may be more likely to have a high impact on costs or debt. Not all of the detail of arrangements may be sensitive financial information. You may like to mention that you don’t think Complex arrangement should automatically be excluded from engagement with the community.

The link to the Wai Hononga Water Company Consultation is here:
https://haveyoursay.npdc.govt.nz/wai-hononga-draft-significance-engagement-policy

The consultation closes on Wednesday 30th September, at 11.59pm

Have your say on the draft Significance and Engagement Policy which guides how Wai Hononga assesses the significance of decisions and when the community will be involved.

27/09/2026

NPDC Significance and Engagement Policy Consultation

Would you like to tell the NPDC whether you agree with the rules they have put together with how and when they will engage with you ?

Are you happy NPDC staff are being trained to use community engagement methods by an International Organisation, with global practices your Council will use to engage with you?

We have sought legal advice about this document as the NPDC must legally follow the rules set in this document. The following are some of the issues that were raised with the draft document.

Page 3
• The document mentions the NPDC uses Advisory Groups for engagement. You may want to ask them to list who these groups are.
• There are 11 bullet points of the types of groups of people the Council wants to reach. They do not mention Ratepayers. You may want to ask them to add a bullet point with ratepayers.
• There is a paragraph with Maori words you may not understand. You may want to ask for English to be used as well.
• A TIriti Outcomes Framework document is referred to as a Framework be used. This document has not yet been approved by Council. You may want to mention that you don’t want this document referred to in a Significance and Engagement policy until you know what the Tiriti Framework guide will agree to.

Page 6.
• There are 5 boxes of categories with medium to low, high to medium, or a considerable impact. There is not a box which will engage with you about Debt. Would you like a box added that specifically mentions when the NPDC will engage with you about debt.

Page 9.
• The NPDC ‘s approach to carrying out engagement is based on the International Association of Public Participation framework. (See our recent post for more info about this). Do you want the NPDC using global practices and different groups of people with guided questions to represent the overall community ? You may want to ask the NPDC to leave this International Association.

Page 12.
• The NPDC has a section stating they MAY not need to engage with you with Complex Financial or commercial arrangements. Just because arrangements are complex does no mean they automatically contain sensitive financial information, or would prejudice a competitive tender process. Complex arrangements may involve public-private partnerships, which ratepayers may need to know more about. Complex financial or commercial arrangements may be more likely to have a high impact on costs or debt. Not all of the detail of arrangements may be sensitive financial information. You may like to mention that you don’t think Complex arrangements should automatically be excluded from engagement with the community.

The link to the NPDC Consultation is here;
https://haveyoursay.npdc.govt.nz/npdc-proposed-significance-and-engagement-policy

The consultation closes on Wednesday 30th September, at 11.59pm

Consultation on NPDC's Proposed Significance and Engagement Policy. Feedback closes 30 September.

27/09/2026

Two very important legal documents are out for consultation at the moment – and surprise, surprise – we find the NPDC belongs to an International Organisation – this one for how they will engage with the New Plymouth Community.

This one is called The International Association of Public Participation framework.

The open consultations at the moment are for the Significance and Engagement policies for the Council and for the Water Company (CCO). These documents are the legal rules of how you will be engaged with – so you can “participate” in what the Council and the CCO will do on your behalf.

What is in these documents sets the rules of when either the Water Company, or the NPDC, has to let you know significant decisions are being made and when they have to ask for your feedback about those decisions.

The NPDC belongs to the Australasian branch of the International Association of Public Participation framework. This is a link to what they do:
https://engagementinstitute.org.au/resources/iap2-public-participation-spectrum/

This link has a video on one of this site’s pages of how a council can select a method of engagement – the example that comes up with this is called “Deliberative Engagement”:
https://engagementinstitute.org.au/engagement-methods-tool/

We are sending a full submission to both the NPDC and the Water CCO for all sections of these two consultations. Below is what we wrote about belonging to The International Association of Public Participation framework, in that section of our NPDC submission:

**************************************************
Appendix 1 – Community Engagement Guide – Page 9

We would like to raise a concern with wording about halfway down this page. Under the table is wording describing Councils approach to carrying out engagement, “which is based on the International Association of Public Participation framework”.

We have strong feedback from Ratepayer Alliance Supporters that the reason the general community has given up on engaging with the NPDC is because they do NOT get to choose what options they want, they are fed versions of options they do not want, and they can’t say no to what they don’t want.

Many, many people in New Plymouth have given up on giving feedback to the NPDC as their opinion does not fit the preferred direction put forward by the NPDC.

This international organisation specially states on its homepage NOT to share what their spectrum is. A video on methods that can be used comes out with - Deliberative Engagement - as a tool example – which translates to - starting out with a deliberate result in mind, with a selected group of people.

The Ratepayers Alliance strongly believes in engagement with the same approach being available to all of the community, asking direct open questions, explaining issues, and giving respondents the opportunity to answer in their own words, with their own choices.

We do not support International Organisations influencing how the people of New Plymouth get to make decisions in forums set up to guide opinions or outcomes. We do not support NPDC staff being trained in “international” viewpoints of how best to manipulate results through small public forums.

We would ask the NPDC elected officials to understand more about the International Association of Public Participation, and we would ask whatever fees are paid to belong to this association are saved, by exiting this group, and concentrating on engaging directly with the people in New Plymouth who want to engage, and who want to use their own words and make their own choices.”

**************************************************

• Both of these Significance and Engagement consultations close on Wednesday 30th September, at 11.59pm.

Our next two posts have some bullet points you may want to use, and the consultation link, if you would like to send a submission to either organisation.

One post is about the NPDC consultation, and
The other post is about the Water CCO Consultation.

Explore the Engagement Methods Tool—search 60+ techniques by context, budget, time and audience. Free for members, subscription available for non‑members.

25/09/2026

Data Centres and Supply – What’s happening in Taranaki ? What’s happening in NZ ? What’s happening Globally ?

Why is the Ratepayers Alliance, whose main concern is local government costs, efficiencies and transparency, looking at an issue like this one ?

On one hand consents are being approved by local councils across the country and local people are generally not involved, and another aspect coming from a lot of everyday people protesting about these data centres overseas, is the cost of water and power is increasing significantly once the data centres are in place, and people are being hit with additional costs to increase infrastructure, and also paying higher costs for supply.

What is happening with these data centres is flowing back into cost of living issues for homeowners. That is why we decided to put out information about this.

What’s happening in Taranaki

New Plymouth

The Tasman Ring Network is a 6,000km trans-Tasman subsea cable linking Auckland, New Plymouth, Greymouth and Invercargill in New Zealand with Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania in Australia via high-capacity international transport links.

The Tasman Ring Network would be the first dedicated high-fibre-count submarine cable connecting New Zealand and Australia, with an anticipated capacity of up to 540 Tbps. (Terabits per second for those who understand what that means).

The Tasman Ring Network is jointly developed by telecommunications provider Chorus NZ Limited (Chorus) and digital infrastructure company Datagrid New Zealand (which doesn’t have NZ owners but has a NZ name).

Datagrid NZ is also building the Data Centre in Invercargill. This is a link to information about the Tasman Ring Network:
https://www.submarinenetworks.com/en/systems/australia-usa/tasman-ring-network

Who are the people behind Datagrid NZ ? Did we hear anything about the overseas investment office needing to sign the agreement for them to build this data centre in NZ ? This is a link to the overseas investment office approving this sensitive farmland benefit test in NZ, with ownership of the majority of the company by a French citizen, his wife who is an NZ citizen, and a Singapore company:
https://www.linz.govt.nz/our-work/overseas-investment-regulation/decisions/2025-11/202500359

Is the cable coming to New Plymouth going to be for a data centre in New Plymouth ? Our team have been watching for that. Or is the cable coming to New Plymouth to power the Data Centre site in Stratford ? The cable is being promoted as an energy hub for New Plymouth stating it may help to create new businesses. MAY is a word often used when big amounts of our taxes are being used.

Stratford

Contact Energy and a Company called CDC are looking at building the data centre in Stratford on an old retired gas plant site that Contact owns. This is a link to that information here:
https://datacentresnz.com/insights/contact-cdc-stratford-data-centre

We have attached a picture of the proposed plan for the Stratford site.

Concept illustrations of the proposed data centre to be built near Stratford show the huge scale of the 250-megawatt facility.

Who are CDC Data Centres – a company based In Auckland, and the ACT territory in Australia. This is a link to them here:
https://cdc.com/

How much of the increase in prices for our power bills over the last year has something to do with companies increasing infrastructure for Data Centres ? This is an issue causing very big problems for consumers overseas, with the cost of supply, and in some cases an actual lack of supply.

People in Stratford have held a protest about the Data Centre to go in there. (Photo attached)

What’s happening in NZ

Do people recall the Coalition put in place a minister for the South Island in around 2024 ? It seemed a bit strange at the time. What specifically did the South Island have that needed a Minister for the whole Island ? And why weren’t people consulted on what this Minister would be up to with the purpose of this role being Data Centres ?

***Attached is the briefing note for the minister of the South Island,***
before meeting with DataGrid, about the data centre to be built in Invercargill. It was a confidential memo not to be spoken about. Yet again, the NZ public is not consulted about decisions being made in Government. Why ?

There are roughly 16 Data Centres already in NZ at this time. So, what will they be doing and how do they affect jobs ? The South Island and Straftford Data centres are not included in this number.

We move into Perplexity AI searches with the following information, but the first part has been pulled from NZ information.

How many jobs in NZ are expected to discontinue due to AI and automation from data centres ?

There is no specific, published estimate of jobs that will be discontinued in New Zealand because of data centres themselves. The evidence we do have points in a different direction:

• Data centres in NZ have very low permanent employees (around 50 permanent staff for a large hyperscale site; roughly 1,000 direct employees across all operational data centres nationally).[1][2]

• The main job displacement risk from AI/automation is not tied to data centres as employers, but to how AI is used inside other sectors (retail, finance, admin, professional services, public sector, logistics, etc.).[3][4]
What the NZ evidence says about AI-driven job loss (overall)
Recent NZ-focused analysis and government briefings indicate:

• About 36% of NZ jobs are at high risk of significant AI/automation disruption by 2035, mostly through task automation and role transformation rather than whole occupations vanishing at once.[4]

• Only around 2% of occupations are at high risk of full automation today, but a much larger share (around 30–36%) face high exposure to AI augmentation and task replacement, particularly in administrative, clerical, and professional roles earning $50k–$150k.[3][4]

• Sector-level modelling suggests the largest near-term exposure is in:
o Retail & wholesale trade (~210,000 workers, high risk)
o Financial services & insurance (~120,000, high risk)
o Transport, postal & logistics (~110,000, high risk)
o Public administration (~85,000, medium–high risk)
o Professional, scientific & technical (~180,000, medium–high risk)[4]

Based on this information – around 1,000 jobs may be created at the new data centres, but something like 710,000 jobs are likely to disappear over the next ten years.

Who is actually profiting from these data centres ? It doesn’t look like it’s the everyday people in NZ.

The next 15 links are to the information used to pull the above stats together:

1. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/10/new-zealand-first-datacentre-concern-locals-makarewa-invercargill-datagrid
2. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/805470/data-centres-in-nz-jobs-creators-or-destroyers
3. https://b2bnews.co.nz/news/mbie-maps-nz-jobs-most-exposed-to-ai-automation/
4. https://aixiv.science/pdf/aixiv.260531.000002
5. https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/15-06-2026/which-jobs-are-most-at-risk-from-the-irresistible-rise-of-artificial-intelligence
6. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-zealand-tech-job-market-struggles-amid-ai-expansion-economic-downturn/PINUSEJPVFFQFELKJCU6WOZZBU/
7.https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/artificial-intelligence/job-barometer/aijb-2025-new-zealand-analysis.pdf
8.https://www.maxim.org.nz/content/uploads/2025/02/WEB-AI-and-the-Future-of-Work-Feb-25.pdf
9.https://aiforum.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AI-Forum-Productivity-Report_Website_Aug-2025.pdf
10.https://aiforum.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AI-in-Action_March2025-Report-compressed.pdf
11. https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/14747-labour-market-impacts-of-technology-change-evidence-from-linked-employer-employee-data
12. https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/26404-a-future-that-works-report-harnessing-automation-for-a-more-productive-and-thriving-new-zealand-pdf
13.https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/5754-artificial-intelligence-shaping-a-future-new-zealand.pdf
14. https://www.waikato.ac.nz/news-events/news/nz-is-encouraging-the-use-of-ai-but-its-largely-outsourcing-the-risks-and-societal-costs/
15.https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/artificial-intelligence/job-barometer/aijb-2026-newzealand.pdf

What growth is expected in the Data Centre Market ? This is a forecast from a US company.

Demand is being shaped by AI growth, and industry forecasts say data centre capacity is expanding rapidly to keep up. One major 2026 outlook predicts nearly 100 GW of new data centres will be added between 2026 and 2030, with AI driving a large share of that growth.
https://www.jll.com/en-us/insights/market-outlook/data-center-outlook

What is happening overseas ? Why are so many everyday people in local areas protesting ?

Protests and community opposition to data centres have surged globally in 2025–2026, driven mainly by concerns over energy and water use, environmental impacts, noise, and perceived lack of local benefits. The movement is now organised, bipartisan in many countries, and has already blocked or delayed tens of billions of dollars in projects.[impakter][futura-sciences][theguardian]

Where protests are happening

United States (largest and most organised)

• Scale: More than 800 active opposition groups across 49 states by early 2026, up from roughly half that in late 2025.[impakter][futura-sciences]

• Projects affected: At least 75 data centre projects (about $130 billion) were blocked or delayed in Q1 2026 alone—nearly matching the total for all of 2025.[impakter][futura-sciences][broadbandbreakfast]

• Policy response: At least 15 states have proposed some form of moratorium or building freeze; New York enacted a one year statewide moratorium on large data centres pending stronger environmental and community protections.[impakter][futura-sciences][nytimes]

• Local bans: Hundreds of local jurisdictions have passed bans or moratoriums; one report cites 500 jurisdictions with bans/moratoriums, including 150 local bans in July 2026 alone.[nytimes][theregister]

• Hotspots: Opposition is reported in rural and suburban areas nationwide, with specific delays noted in states such as Illinois, New York, Texas, California, Virginia, and parts of the Pacific Northwest.[futura-sciences][constructiondive]
United Kingdom and Europe

• UK: Protests have targeted planned facilities in and around London, including a notable demonstration against a proposed data centre on Brick Lane in east London.[theregister]

• Europe-wide: Media report community pushback “from Scotland to India,” with European communities raising similar concerns about grid strain, water use, and climate impacts.[theguardian][wagingnonviolence]
Asia and other regions

• India: Community groups are organising against data centre projects, citing threats to local energy supplies and climate goals.[theguardian]

• Global framing: Activists increasingly link data centre opposition to broader climate and energy justice campaigns, arguing that hyperscale AI infrastructure intensifies resource pressures without proportional local benefit.[theguardian][wagingnonviolence]

Why people are protesting
Common grievances across countries include:

• Electricity demand and grid stress: Data centres—especially AI-focused “hyperscalers”—consume very large amounts of power, raising fears of higher bills, blackouts, and new fossil fuel generation.[impakter][futura-sciences][cybersecurity-insiders]

• Water use for cooling: Facilities can use millions of gallons per day, intensifying concerns in drought prone areas and competing with residential/agricultural needs.[impakter][wri][thinkbrg]

• Environmental and health impacts: Noise, light, air pollution (including from on site gas generation), and greenhouse emissions are frequent complaints, with some communities invoking environmental justice arguments.[impakter][wri][brookings]

• Land use and local benefits: Large campuses on rural or semi rural land are seen as bringing construction jobs but few long term local jobs, while altering landscapes and property values.[thinkbrg][dispatch][datacenterknowledge]

• Transparency and consent: Use of non disclosure agreements between developers and local governments, plus fast tracked permitting, fuels distrust and perceptions that communities are being bypassed.[impakter][brookings]
Polling in the U.S. shows around 70–75% opposition to building data centres near respondents’ communities, with strong opposition across party lines.[futura-sciences][nytimes][cybersecurity-insiders][dispatch]

This whole topic is way out of our scope to suggest to people what they should think, or do, which is why we are providing a summary of concerning information and questions.

If nothing else, putting this information out may get local people talking about how they feel about this, with one of these data centres going in in Taranaki.

From here people may want to look further into what these data centres are all about and what else is happening in NZ on this topic.

We are aware of a NZ petition on change.org – as we publish this - over 14,000 people have signed it. The link to that is here:
https://www.change.org/p/stop-hyperscale-data-centres-in-new-zealand

Share this with other people you think may be interested.

22/09/2026

We need your help with our legal fund again, if people have a few dollars to spare.

Just to remind people, when the Statement of Expectations document was being created for the Water Company earlier this year, we didn’t think the wording was in the best interests of ratepayers and water company consumers.

We obtained a legal opinion, presented it to the Mayor and Councillors at an NPDC meeting, and at the next Council meeting, we were really pleased to see every elected official voted to include those changes in this legally binding document.

Because of that legal opinion, there are now greater protections for the overall community with how the Water Company must operate.

A few legally binding documents are traveling through the consultation process at the moment. Because they are very important for the people who are sent the Council rates bills, we thought we’d ask our lawyers to have a quick look, to make sure there was nothing we should ask questions about.

This raised some issues, which we then needed to get a formal opinion to present to the NPDC. We work with a great legal firm who maximise the output of work for the bill we pay, but still legal opinions are costly.

Every donation helps - $2 - $5 - $10 - $20 - $50 - $100 – whatever you may be able to help with - will be helpful for us.

**Bank Account details are:**

TSB Bank Account:

Name of Account: New Plymouth District Ratepayers Alliance

15 3943 0039254 01

Please use the words “Legal Fund” as a reference
*Please note donations are not Tax Deductible.

18/09/2026

This is an update of our recent Quarterly Meeting with the Management Team at the NPDC.

We can provide some good news to Ratepayers and Renters. The NPDC staff are fully focused on reducing costs and increasing efficiencies. Every department across the NPDC have been involved in discussions and proposals.

• We want to acknowledge that most of the people who were voted in last year have listened to the community, and particularly the ratepayers who are struggling to pay the increased rates bills, and they have sent a very strong message to the staff that costs must come down.

Nothing has been set in stone at this stage, but Senior Staff have been asked to work on plans for a 2% rates increase next year, or a 5% rates increase next year.

• Yes, we know there will be people saying Yeah Right ! Where was the 4.9% increase this year in my rates ? Which of course is an issue on our radar with any increases next year.

• We also know – people will be saying we don’t want an increase – we want our rates to come down. Even with all the will in the world from the elected officials who want to bring costs down right now, there is a very big reason they can’t do everything straight away.

The biggest reason is it is hard to adjust expenditure after an election because the Long Term Plan that is running from the last set of elected officials is still running – and contracts that have already been signed – they are a legal contract with penalty clauses for cancellations – so the projects can’t just be stopped as soon as new people are voted in.

But – the good news with that – is any parts of projects which do not have a signed contract – the scope and costs are being carefully looked at now.

And other good news, there is a Project Governance Board at the Council and the criteria they follow has changed with the new elected officials in place. Senior Management sit on this Board too, but if any projects/activities are over budget, or outcomes are different to the original scope, the decisions about what happens next comes back to the elected officials to decide. In the previous term budgets often just expanded, and debt was increased to cover the extra costs.

• It is harder to change budgets, or scopes of projects, now the Project Governance Board criteria has been changed.
• There is also a strong focus on managing any extra costs without adding to debt levels.

Of course, there are complications with that. We asked about the Waitara Walkway project costs. NZTA is providing some funds for that and a business case was prepared for the NZTA, for them to agree to give money to this project.

NZTA have quite expensive tastes, and a lot of rules, of how things must be developed. So, stages 2 and 3 of the Waitara Walkway are being looked at for where costs can be trimmed, but what is put in place must fit with outcomes agreed to for NZTA in their original business case, or they may withdraw the funding.

Having followed how NZTA is now involved at our local council level over the last few years, we’re not a huge fan of being beholden to rules of a government organisation which makes projects a lot more expensive than they could be. A simple version could be funded locally without all the fish hooks. And of course, NZTA is paid using taxpayer income, yet the Government Department tells us how they will spend our tax money.

But, the NPDC Management Team do mention to us that NZTA provides a lot of financial input for New Plymouth roads, and relationships need to be maintained.

Talking about those relationships we were told about the Regional Transport Plan which is prepared every 3 years between the NPDC and NZTA. This provides about 51% of the funds for our roads.

A few years ago, people may remember, footpaths were quite a topic of conversation with a lot of potholes and issues. A lot of people were complaining to the NPDC at the time. It was mentioned in this meeting that the funding 2 rounds ago had no funding for footpaths included, which created this issue. This is what is meant with the relationship comments.

The biggest thing on our radar over the next 6 months is the 2027 to 2037 Long Term Plan (LTP). As we keep saying – this document gives the NPDC permission – or not – on how they can spend YOUR rates income.

The staff are working on all the areas to be considered for the next LTP. They have looked at all projects, all stages of projects, all the assets owned by the NPDC, maintenance and depreciation of those assets, and everything in the current LTP.

They have put together scenarios, and how this all adds up, for the total amount of rates income needed. They are currently running in house sessions with staff challenging assumptions that have been made, and changing assumptions as needed.

This will be presented to the elected officials so they can prepare for how they will vote on the consultation document that goes out for the LTP (effectively what will go in the LTP for the community to consult on). Timing with the elected officials will be late this year and the consultation will come out to the community around February/March 2027.

One other thing which will be coming out for consultation will be the amalgamation of councils – a current coalition Government initiative – Future of Local Government Plans. This is likely to be in and around the timing of the LTP next year.

We’ve been working on getting open text boxes into consultations for a reason. These boxes will give you options to say NO to things in the Long Term Plan, if you want to do that next year.

P.S
We were told 1,585 people submitted on the Devon Street West Cycleway Trial, which under the circumstances of being ignored so many times, we do hope a big chunk of those people are the affected people on Devon Street West. We also asked for a copy of the submissions with an OIA, but we were turned down and told we will have to wait to see them when the results are released in late October.