​Council supports further work on inner city improvements

Next steps to investigate further inner city improvements were approved by Council today and will form part of decision-making for the 2027-2037 Long-term Plan.

Council endorsed the key direction for the Inner City, including a targeted initial focus on the Lakefront Precinct, Amohia/Ranolf Street Neighbourhood and the Fenton Street Transition Area as priority inner city precincts.

Elected members also approved further investigation, concept development and business case preparation for Village Green improvements and extending the inner city dining precinct.

Staff will develop a draft Incentives and Mechanisms Policy focused on the priority inner city precincts and will review relevant renewal programmes, maintenance standards and operating budgets will be reviewed to identify if sufficient budget and resources are allocated to renew lighting, keep it operating, respond to graffiti, service bins and maintain public spaces to the expected standard.

All of these will come back to Council for consideration and decision-making through the 2027-2037 Long-term Plan.

Go to p33 of the meeting agenda to read the full report on this matter.

Go directly to this part of the recording of the livestreamed meeting via this link

Facilities strategy and policies

Council has today adopted a draft facilities strategy and draft facilities policy to be consulted on as part of 2027-2037 Long-term Plan consultation, scheduled for next April.

A draft facilities divestment policy will come back to Council at its October meeting following a workshop.

Council’s facilities portfolio includes community halls, Te Aka Mauri (library building), the Aquatic Centre, Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua Museum, the Energy Events Centre, Sir Howard Morrison Centre, pensioner housing, public toilets, civic facilities and a range of regulatory buildings and land holdings. This is not a complete list.

The Draft Facilities Policy aims to establish a consistent and transparent framework for managing the full facilities lifecycle, including acquisition, retention, maintenance, repurposing, upgrading and disposal where applicable. It also aims to clarify the portfolio governance, management responsibilities, and decision-making criteria.

The Draft Facilities Strategy provides a 30-year roadmap for the facilities portfolio and identifies four strategic themes:

• Portfolio performance and management optimisation.
• Transparent decision-making.
• Sound and reliable asset management practices.
• Long term financial liabilities and fiscal sustainability.

The draft Facilities Divestment Policy will guide decision-making regarding assets that are not of critical value to the objectives of the Council, are no longer required for the provision of Council’s critical services in ensuring a consistent, transparent and strategically aligned approach to the assessment, declaration and potential divestment of surplus Council-owned properties and facilities.

The strategy and policies will influence future service delivery, Council’s investment priorities and funding allocation decisions.

See p54 of the meeting agenda to view the full report on this matter.

See the draft strategy and policies on pages 218-274 of the meeting attachments document on the council website: Attachments of Council Meeting - Wednesday, 23 September 2026

Go directly to this part of the meeting recording via this link

Draft non-performance measures for 2025/26 year

Rotorua Lakes Council has made ongoing progress in service delivery improvements during the last (2025/26) financial year, non-financial performance measures show.

Of a total of 65 non-performance measures – 25 of which are mandatory – 38 (58%) were met for the year ending 30 June 2025.

A report to Council noted that strong results were recorded across drinking water, wastewater, stormwater and transport services, while significant improvements were made in resource consent processing, customer response times, Learn to Swim participation and waste reduction.

Although some performance targets were not achieved, many showed substantial improvement on previous years, demonstrating continued progress in service delivery across the district, the report said.

The past year’s results compared with 46 measures achieved (71%) in 2024/25. While the overall achievement rate was lower than the previous year, a number of measures showed significant year-on-year improvement, particularly in areas where performance has been the focus of ongoing operational improvement initiatives, the report noted.

Council heard that a number of areas were very close to being achieved (eg the target of 100% of LIM reports being processed within the statutory timeframe was missed by 1) and customer satisfaction was improving, specifically in the area of community leadership.

Performance by activity:

• All 11 measures met in water supply
• 3 of 5 met in waste and sustainability
• 5 of 6 met in wastewater
• 5 of 6 met in transportation
• All 6 met in stormwater
• 4 of 11 met in spaces, places and recreation
• 1 of 5 met in district development
• 2 of 8 met in community safety
• 1 of 3 met in community leadership (based on resident satisfaction)

Go to p66 of the meeting agenda to view the report on this matter

Go to p290 of the attachments schedule for more on this matter: Attachments of Council Meeting - Wednesday, 23 September 2026

Go directly to this part of the recording of the meeting at this link

Consideration of vesting arrangements for two reserve areas

Council approved a request from the Department of Conservation (DOC) that the Council, as the reserve administering body, consent to the cancellation of the vesting of Waitōharuru (Tarawera Landing) Reserve. Public assets such as public toilets, will continue to be Council’s responsibility.

A decision on a second request from DOC, to consent to cancellation of the vesting of part of Centennial Park occupied by the Rotorua Thermal Holiday Park, has been delayed for a month to enable Council to hear from Toi Ohomai, which currently holds the lease on the holiday park.

Go to p41 of the meeting agenda to view the report on this matter.

See the presentation slide relating to this matter at the following link: PRESENTATION Vesting Arrangements 23 September 2026.pdf

Go directly to this part of the meeting recording via this link

Also on the agenda

• Approve and adopt Plan Change 8 Natural Hazards. Go to p62 of the meeting agenda.
• Quarterly report from Rotorua Airport CCO. Go to p70 of the meeting agenda.
• Decision on preferred option for future delivery of water services for community consultation: Council prefers in-house delivery of water services - Rotorua Lakes Council

Find the agenda, additional reports and documents and links to presentations at the following link on Council’s website: Council Meeting - 23/09/2026 - Rotorua Lakes Council

You can view the full recording of the livestreamed meeting at this link on Council's YouTube channel