The latest Kāpiti Coast District Council Annual Report outlines a year of progress in a challenging and uncertain time.

The Kāpiti Coast District Council Annual Report (and summary) for 2020-21 was adopted by Council on 25 November. It describes how Council achieved most planned works and projects from the 2018-38 Long-term Plan, despite the social and economic impacts of COVID-19.

Chief executive Wayne Maxwell says like most businesses, families and people Council had to adapt and be nimble in response to the pandemic.

“I am proud of the work we achieved during the year and the way Council changed tack to re-prioritise work, while continuing to provide essential services to the community,” Mr Maxwell says.

A significant achievement was the District Plan becoming operative on 30 June 2021. This was nine years in the making, involved considering 900 submissions and now sets the scene for future development in the district.

Another key achievement was implementing the Kāpiti Recovery Plan to guide Council’s response to the pandemic – most of the plan’s 42 actions have now become business-as-usual work for Council.

Other achievements include refreshing the Kāpiti Coast Economic Development Strategy and Implementation Plan, developing a Climate Emergency Action Framework to guide mitigation and adaptation decisions, and developing a new housing work programme to improve supply and engagement with iwi, developers, and key stakeholders to improve local housing outcomes.

Mr Maxwell says the year also saw an overall drop in the Council’s annual Residents Opinion Survey from 80 per cent to 74 per cent.

“While we exceeded performance targets for cycling, walking and bridleways, swimming pools, libraries, public toilets, and emergency preparedness, we have more work to do to improve performance related to roads (allowing for easy movement), street lighting, waste minimisation education and in enabling the district to develop in a way that considers its unique character and natural environment.

“We also need to improve perceptions about rates (value for money), perceptions that Council makes good decisions and perceptions about trusting Council to do the right thing.”

On a practical front, Council remained busy serving 33,752 customers, responding to 62,204 customer requests, resealing 11.25km of local roads, renewing two playgrounds, planting over 30,000 trees, and refurbishing the Otaki Civic Theatre and Paraparaumu Memorial Hall.

“These are just a few examples of our year’s work which was all in the midst of a growing central government agenda for reform on a number of fronts, including three waters, the local government review and resource management reform,” Mr Maxwell says.

Financially, Council ended the year in a strong position, retaining its Standard and Poor’s Global AA rating. The year ended with a surplus of $6.9 million (from unplanned central government stimulus funding) and 89 per cent of capital spend works were completed.

Visit kapitcoast.govt.nz to find the full report and summary.

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