We’re a diverse community. Twenty-six per cent of our 81,473 population identify as Maaori and we welcomed 170 new New Zealand citizens to our growing migrant community in the district in 2020/21.

As a democratically elected Council, our goal is always to involve you in decisions that affect the future of our communities and our district.

We involved you in decisions on subjects ranging from reserve management and keeping of animals, to alcohol and speed limits. Our Long Term Plan 2021-31 sparked more than 600 submissions.

The Council approved the creation of Maaori wards for the 2022 and 2025 local government elections, and we started our six-yearly Representation Review to decide the number of our wards and councillors for the next two Council terms.

We enjoyed a strengthened Maaori voice in our decision-making with the appointment of two Maangai Maaori (Voice of Maaori) positions to our three major Council committees just before the start of the 2020/21 year.

We want to hear what you have to say, and we expanded our efforts to engage with you through a range of media, surveys, face-to-face meetings and online. We attracted nearly 360,000 visitors to our website in the past year (up 13.4% from 2019/20) and we have more than 17,000 followers on Facebook (up 21%). We pioneered the use of videoconferencing technology for hearings on our Proposed District Plan, and continued to use it to bring people together online on issues such as wastewater consent renewals for Raglan and Te Kauwhata.

A focus for community activities

Our libraries, parks and facilities are an important focus for community activities. We work hard to maintain 220 Council-owned buildings across the district, including 6 libraries and 38 community halls. We also manage and maintain 56 playgrounds and neighbourhood reserves, 13 skateparks, three swimming pools, 21 cemeteries, 113 parks and reserves, two animal shelters and 25 dog exercise areas. Among many projects completed were the refurbishment of the Tuakau library and re-roofing of the Huntly Grandstand.

We are proud that some of our most widely-used services recorded customer satisfaction levels of 80% or more including our libraries, parks and reserves, solid waste and recycling services, and wastewater services. Overall, 60% of survey respondents were satisfied with the way rates are spent on the services and facilities we provide, and 81% rated the quality of life in Waikato district as good or very good.

From Council-owned funds we committed more than $569,000 for distribution to 113 local groups.

On behalf of the Creative Communities Scheme Fund we distributed $70,194 to benefit 37 local groups, and the work of five more groups benefited from $72,000 we distributed on behalf of an independent trust we administer, the Waikato District Community Wellbeing Trust.

Local tourism spending grew 5.9% thanks to a resurgence in domestic tourism.

Development and investor demand has increased despite uncertainty due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19.  A rezoning application for a $1.2 billion Sleepyhead manufacturing and residential development at Ōhinewai was approved by a panel of independent commissioners, although parts of the proposed development are subject to appeal in the Environment Court.

We established a Business Pop-Up School to support new business ideas from people who had lost their jobs because of COVID-19, and we supported community-led development training to build community capability and resilience.

Photo credit: Jonathan Milne/newsroom.co.nz. 

We held five successful community events, the most notable being our 2021 Dirty Dog Challenge which attracted more than 400 people and 300 dogs to participate.

With an average of six Animal Control officers on the road during the past year, we responded to 2,997 service requests across the Waikato district.  Of the service requests received, 1,244 (42%) related to straying dogs, 328 (11%) related to incidents of dog aggression and 274 (9%) were requests to deal with wandering stock. We rehomed 161 dogs.

The number of dogs registered in June 2021 was 14,107, more than 90% of the 15,344 dogs known to be residing in the district.

Minimising waste

We amended our kerbside refuse and recycling contracts to align these services with the objectives of our Waste Management and Minimisation Plan which is to set targets to achieve a vision of ‘Zero Waste’. We diverted 6,568 tonnes of refuse from landfill, and made the decision to end our inorganic waste kerbside collection because it encouraged the dumping of waste to landfill.  Working with Agrecovery and Waikato Regional Council, we hosted a rural chemical collection in Tuakau.

We continued to support waste minimisation education, including classroom sessions for primary and area schools participating in our Zero Waste Education programme, and Para Kore, a waste minimisation education programme delivered from a Maaori perspective. We also engaged in a range of projects within the Enviroschools programme which empowers young people to plan, design and implement sustainability actions that are important to them.

Environmental Health

Our Environmental Health team responded to a range of issues and multi-agency events including contaminated land and ‘P labs’, agricultural activities and spillages, and our out-of-hours service operators attended about 1,200 noise complaints.

In partnership with Watercare Services we assigned dedicated expertise to confront some complex stormwater management issues in the district and inspected businesses and facilities that were identified as high risk for contaminating stormwater if not maintained. A major programme of wastewater treatment plant upgrades to support discharge consent renewals will improve compliance and protect the environment. We also sponsored Waikato Rivercare to undertake riparian restoration on the lower Waikato River and associated catchments.

Open Spaces

We secured $11.3 million of the Government’s post-COVID-19 stimulus funding package announced with its Three Waters Reform Programme in July 2020. This will enable us to accelerate $3.4 million of wastewater network renewals and undertake an additional $4.3 million wastewater pond de-sludging, among other initiatives for our wastewater, stormwater and water supply services.

We are continuing to assess the impact of the Government’s reform proposals on our contract for operational and maintenance services with Watercare Services Ltd and will make a firm decision once we have studied the details.

Our roading maintenance partnership with Downer NZ, the Waikato District Alliance, completed the third year of a $9 million-plus scheme of safety improvements which attracted an enhanced NZTA Waka Kotahi subsidy, saving more than $2.5 million over the full three years.

We entered a partnership contract with Cushman and Wakefield in October 2020 to maintain the Council’s community facilities, which include 220 Council-owned buildings across the district and more than 20 other plant items.

We completed a three-year programme to review and change speed limits in our district and a three-year $9m scheme of network safety improvements, resurfaced 118 kms of sealed roads and completed 7kms of road strengthening work, built 3.5 kms of new footpaths in townships across the district, enhanced shared walking-cycling paths in Raglan, and continued work on the Cambridge to Hamilton stage of the Te Awa cycleway project.

 Major projects supporting the Council’s vision of ‘liveable, thriving and connected communities’ included the Huntly Rail platform upgrade for the Te Huia passenger train service to Auckland, and the Horotiu/River Road roundabout which was a key safety initiative attracting enhanced NZTA Waka Kotahi funding, reducing Council’s cost to less than $1.5m and helping reduce the number of vehicle incidents at this intersection.

Water supply

We continued to address the need for a safe and adequate water supply for our district, with a particular focus on our fast-growing communities. Working with Watercare Services we :

• Submitted an updated Waikato District Water Demand Management Plan to Waikato Regional Council, analysing the district’s 10 water supply schemes and presenting options for improving future water demand management,
• Obtained approval from Waikato District Health Board for a new water safety plan for the Te Akau Water Treatment Plant and distribution network, reflecting a change in water source from bore water to water delivered by tanker from the Raglan Treatment Plant,
• Prepared a draft strategic servicing strategy for water and wastewater from Meremere to Huntly to assess the impact of growth and level of service improvements.

Wastewater

Planning is at different stages for wastewater treatment plant upgrades at Meremere, Te Kauwhata and Raglan to support discharge consent renewals. Development of a concept upgrade plan is also underway for Huntly.  Other achievements included the following:

• Government funding was secured to de-sludge the Huntly wastewater treatment plan
• The Meremere wastewater discharge consent renewal was secured for 35 years
• Work started with neighbouring Councils to identify a long-term solution for our southern district area.

Stormwater

We assigned dedicated expertise to address stormwater management issues with a focus on consent compliance and reducing risks.  We:

• Developed a new Stormwater Bylaw for consultation in June/July 2021 which will enable us to enforce new regulations to protect stormwater assets and waterways.
• Updated the Pokeno Catchment Management Plan (CMP) and began work on a new Ngaruawahia CMP
• Produced a draft Stormwater Design Guide for designers and consent approvers
• Resolved all compliance issues, except for minor flooding on two properties, that had led to an Abatement Notice for the Raglan urban area in 2018/19.