New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) has a clear plan to accomplish its vision of a ‘sustainable lifestyle capital’ and has the right financial tools to achieve it.

This has led Local Government New Zealand’s CouncilMARK programme to award the Council an A grade in its latest independent assessment report published today, improving on its previous score of BBB.

LGNZ President Stuart Crosby says that residents should be pleased with the high standards being set at a time where local government grapples with some of the biggest challenges they’ve faced in over three decades.

“The report shows that the NPDC is in a strong financial position, Community Boards are being well utilised, and elected members have worked collectively despite differences of opinion. Chambers are a place where we need to respectfully challenge one another, and the Mayor has done well to grow an open and inclusive meeting culture.

“While it remains an area for improvement, it’s encouraging to see that the Council has made progress over the last two to three years strengthening relationships with iwi and hapū.”

The independent assessment report also notes that NPDC is performing well when it came to service delivery, asset management and that its broad investment portfolio would potentially be the envy of territorial authorities across the country.

NPDC Acting Chief Executive Jacqueline Baker says that the council has responded well during the pandemic, and the results of the CouncilMARK report reflect that.

NPDC Acting Chief Executive Jacqueline Baker says the organisation was well prepared and responded well during the global Covid pandemic and the results of the CouncilMARK report reflect that.

“This is a great result for our team after years of hard work and reflects our focus on providing great services for our residents, value for our ratepayers and a continuous improvement ethos across all aspects of our operations.”

She was also pleased CouncilMARK noted the substantive work programme to improve the District’s water network.

“An independent peer review of our 3 Waters network and Cyclone Gita in 2018 was a real wake-up call about our ageing and under invested in water network. The independent CouncilMARK report recognises the efforts we have made since then to rectify that and how our $248 million campaign to Fix the Plumbing has taken councillors, mana whenua and residents along on the journey,” says Baker.

The full CouncilMARK report can be found here.

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