Development of 2024-34 Long-term Plan gets underway
Development of Rotorua Lakes Council’s 2024-34 Long-term Plan is now underway with the first of a series of workshops to set the direction held today.
Workshops, which will be open to the public and livestreamed, will cover various aspects of long-term plan (LTP) development, resulting in a draft plan to take out for community consultation in April next year.
The LTP will set a new direction for work and projected budgets over the next 10-years, and what our areas of focus are to deliver what’s needed for our community, Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell says.
“Decisions made will set the direction for the next 10 years so we want our community to come along on this journey with us. We’ve changed the way we do this by opening up the workshops for the public to observe and by providing more information about what we’re doing online through Council’s website.
“The LTP builds on the work we’ve already done to balance what the community wants and needs with what our community is practically able to afford.”
Today’s workshop provided an introduction into the LTP process and financial considerations.
“After today, we will now move into looking at our four priorities – housing, economy, infrastructure and community – understanding what’s happening against those now so we can later consider anything new we want to do or anything we want to change. These workshops will start tomorrow [Friday 8 September] with a look at housing and economy,” Mayor Tapsell says.
“From there, a visioning workshop will look at what we, as a Council, want the next 10 years to look like and what outcomes we want for our community so staff can then develop proposals for a draft LTP, based on the direction we’ve provided.
“Once we have a draft LTP, we’ll be going out to the community to test our thinking and public feedback will be taken into consideration in our decision-making,” the Mayor says.
Consultation will be in the first quarter of 2024 and Council will need to adopt its LTP by the end of June 2024. The programme set out in the LTP for the 2024/25 financial year essentially becomes the annual plan for that year.
Workshops to be held for development of the LTP:
- Workshops started today (7 September 2023) with an introduction to long-term planning including what’s involved and what’s required, and an overview of financial strategy, significant funding assumptions, how services are funded and alternative funding options.
- Workshops on current policies, plans, service levels, project and funding aligned to each of the Council’s four priorities (housing, economy, infrastructure and community) with the first of these taking place tomorrow, Friday 8 September, 9.30am to 3.30pm in the Council Chamber and covering housing and economy.
- Externally facilitated visioning workshop for elected members to determine community outcomes they are seeking to deliver through the long-term plan.
- Workshops aligned to the four priorities focussing on any new projects, funding, determining future services and service levels, performance measures and future capital projects.
- Workshops to bring together financial implications, constraints and impacts relating to what is proposed to enable staff to work on drafting a consultation document for public consultation.
More detail about workshops is available HERE on Council’s website. Details will continue to be added here as dates and details are confirmed.
Also keep an eye on the news section of Council’s website (which can be found on the website home page) and council social media channels for upcoming LTP workshops which will be held across the next few months.
Long-term Plan timeline:
- August to November/December 2023: Workshops to provide direction for development of draft LTP
- February 2024: Draft consultation document audited
- March 2024: Council to adopt consultation document
- April 2024: Community consultation on proposed LTP
- May 2024: Hearings and deliberations
- June 2024: Adoption of finalised LTP
The 2024-34 Long-term Plan (LTP) needs to be adopted by the end of June next year and the 2024/25 financial year, starting 1 July 2024, will be year one of the LTP.
Workshops open to the public to attend will be livestreamed via Council’s Youtube channel where they will remain available for viewing.