Horizons Regional Council seeks feedback on Long-term Plan amendment and Annual Plan

Horizons Regional Council is asking for feedback on key issues, including the possible sale of the CentrePort shareholding it owns via its holdings company, as part of consultation on its Long-term Plan amendment and Annual Plan.

Consultation opens today (31 March 2025), with people having until 5pm on 1 May to have their say.
 
Horizons is proposing a total rates increase of 11.2 per cent as part of its 2025-26 Annual Plan, which is lower than the 12 per cent contained in the 2024-34 Long-term Plan consulted on last year. The 11.2 per cent figure is an average across the region and will differ for a variety of reasons, including property revaluations and targeted rates for programmes such as public transport and drainage schemes.
 
Horizons chair Rachel Keedwell says the priorities behind the Long-term Plan have not changed. 
 
“We remain focused on balancing increased demands from central government, holding the line on progress we’ve made, meeting community demands and high-priority needs, and affordability. 
 
“That last point – affordability – is extremely important to Council. We know any rates increase is not ideal. We are open to ideas on how we can reduce cost pressures on households while delivering what we must do and what the community wants us to do.
 
“There are three key issues we want people to give feedback on during the consultation period, which runs from 31 March until 1 May: 

• the possible sale of Horizons’ CentrePort shareholding, 
• funding public transport improvements in Whanganui and Horowhenua without co-investment from central government, and 
• funding options for our portion of Te Pūwaha works near the Whanganui Port.

 
“We are also informing people about a fourth issue – the need for a new building to replace our earthquake-prone Palmerston North office – we will consult on in the future.”
 
The possible sale of the CentrePort shareholding is the issue which, if proceeded with, would trigger a Long-term Plan amendment, says Cr Keedwell.
 
“We are proposing selling the shareholding, which is owned by our holdings company, and reinvesting the proceeds into a managed fund. We believe this would diversify our investment portfolio while continuing to deliver at least the same level of dividends we receive from CentrePort.
 
“The public transport and Te Pūwaha funding issues make up our Annual Plan consultation. While we generally would not need to consult on our Annual Plan, we are doing so this year to ensure people agree with what we have proposed.
 
“When we created our Long-term Plan last year, we agreed to improve public transport in Whanganui and Horowhenua. We noted we were applying for co-investment from NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi for those improvements. 
 
“We did not get the co-investment we sought from NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi. However, we are proposing going ahead with these improvements without the co-investment – something we have not done before – and asking if people support that. 
 
“We will not rate above what we proposed in the Long-term Plan to cover the co-investment shortfall, which means the level of improvements will not be as large as we initially planned.
 
“For Te Pūwaha, we have applied for central government funding to complete our parts of the project. We have also committed to contributing $5.25m, which would be funded via a loan. We’re asking if we should pay off the loan in 15, 25 or 35 years. The longer the loan term, the more interest we pay. However, a shorter loan term means a more immediate impact on rates.”
 
While Horizons is consulting on those issues, there are many other pieces of work happening which require added investment, says Cr Keedwell. 
 
“This include more funding for the Capital Connection, additional river and drainage works in Ruapehu, improvements to our science programme, any many other projects we consulted on during the Long-term Plan process.
 
“All this work is about remaining true to our core business and aiming to deliver what we believe our communities expect from us, ensuring we are working towards a healthy environment where people are thriving.
 
“I encourage everyone to read the consultation material and tell us what they think of these proposals. We are open to feedback on our proposals and suggestions on how we could do things differently to deliver for everyone in our region.”
 
The consultation period runs from 31 March to 1 May 2025. Information and submission forms are available online at haveyoursay.horizons.govt.nz. Hard copies of all information and submission forms will be available at Horizons service centres or by calling 0508 800 800.