Nelson City Council has been awarded $36m of grant funding from the Government's Infrastructure Acceleration Fund (IAF) for an infrastructure upgrade that will provide resiliency for the City Centre and capacity for an extra 1000 new homes.

The funding will support substantial upgrades to water supply, stormwater, wastewater services, and transport.

Outgoing Mayor Rachel Reese says the work could result in a ten-fold increase in the number of central city residents.

“This grant funding is a massive financial saving to Nelson and will have a positive impact on our City Centre for generations to come,” she says.

“The upgrade of transport, water, wastewater and stormwater services will accelerate plans to support more housing development in the City Centre. The next few years will see the City become a viable place to live for hundreds more people, especially those who we know need affordable, secure housing. More people living centrally will also bring more life to our streets, a vision contained in Te Ara ō Whakatū – our City Centre Spatial Plan.

“It is sometimes hard to draw a link between what goes under the road and what happens above it, these infrastructure upgrades will lay the groundwork for a revitalised, buzzing Smart Little City; a great place to live, work and visit.”

“Over the past few years, we have forged a fantastic working relationship with Kāinga Ora and I’d like to express how thankful we are for this financial support. It’s a real gamechanger for Nelson.”

An application to the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund was made in June 2021 with Council and Kāinga Ora staff progressing the application for final approval during the previous triennium.

“This was a highly competitive fund, and it is a credit to Council staff that they have produced a compelling case for Government investment. Building relationships with private sector landowners and investors has supported the application, with the private sector showing a strong interest in progressing city centre housing and mixed-use developments.”

The projects that will be supported include:

• Construction of a water supply ring main from the trunk main on Bridge Street near Tasman Street along Bridge Street, Rutherford Street, Halifax Street and Collingwood Street.
• A new stormwater main along Bridge Street and associated green infrastructure, and a new flood gate for the Halifax Street stormwater outfall into Saltwater Creek.
• A pump station upgrade on Paru Paru Road and renewal/upgrade of Rutherford Street, Achilles Avenue and Bridge Street wastewater infrastructure.
• Upgrades to transport infrastructure.

The overall cost of the projects is $72m. Part of Council’s share of the costs is $32m, and this is already budgeted in the 2021 – 31 Long Term Plan and is debt-funded like all infrastructure investments.

The IAF is part of central government’s Housing Acceleration Fund, announced in March 2021. The fund, which is worth $1bn, is designed to bring forward infrastructure projects that will kick-start new housing developments.

The fund supported projects that otherwise may not have been able to get off the ground or faced significant delays. Today’s funding announcement will provide capacity for 11,500 homes across New Zealand.

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