The new playground at Te Manawa is a hit with our tamariki
Change, both exciting and challenging, has been the stand out in Porirua City’s recently released Annual Report 2018/19.
“The number one issue has been the extraordinary residential growth we have achieved – 2.2% against our usual 1%,” says Chief Executive Wendy Walker.
"The driver for this growth is a combination of a
regional housing shortage and the catalyst of Transmission Gully Motorway
making Porirua a more centrally accessible location in the region. The
announcement of a $1.5 billion Government investment in Eastern Porirua has
also prompted interest in the wider community.”
Alongside these opportunities the Council has to meet
infrastructure challenges arising from growth, Ms Walker says.
“The importance of good infrastructure has been evident for some time and this Council has continued the increased investment started some time ago. Standards continue to rise and our investment will need to keep pace.”
In the last year the Council has focused on planning for the future. This work has included the Growth Strategy (adopted in March 2019) and associated infrastructure planning in transport and the three waters. We have also been working on a full review of our District Plan.
“The proposed Adventure Park on Rangituhi is almost through its planning stages and is progressing well. If successful this will be Porirua’s first significant tourist venture,” Ms Walker says.
Along with significant investment on core infrastructure, such as the $7 million to improve our stormwater and wastewater networks, other highlights over the past year have included:
“Planning for growth will continue to be a priority, but
it’s important that this is balanced with the need to keep rates affordable,”
Ms Walker says.
“This is one of our biggest challenges for the city into
the future and will require some hard decisions by the Council in the next
triennium.”
25 Sep 2019
