Long Term Plan 2021-2041 Amendment

Welcome to Horowhenua District Council's Long Term Plan 2021-2041 Amendment (LTPA), adopted by Council on 28 June 2023, which addresses critical issues facing our community.

The Long Term Plan Amendment updates the Long Term Plan 2021-2041 (LTP) and sets out the services and projects Council will provide to the Horowhenua community all the way out to 2041. The document provided below includes both the updated information about the key issues we consulted on, and the unchanged material for the other areas so it provides all of the current information in one place.

Throughout the process we held 22 consultation events, had 302 people come along in person and over 300 interactions on our Facebook Live sessions and other social media. We received 418 formal submissions. Thank you to everyone who got involved, we wanted to hear from you, and it has directly impacted the decisions made. It does make a difference.

Long Term Plan 2021-2041 Amendment | Te Mahere Roa 2021-2041 Ngā Whakatikatanga(PDF, 70MB)
Long Term Plan 2021-2041 Amendment and Annual Plan 2023/24 Consultation Document | Te Mahere Roa 2021-2041 Ngā Whakatikatanga me te Mahere ā-Tau 2023/24 He Whārangi Uiui(PDF, 7MB)

How did we get here?

Future of the Levin Landfill

We needed to decide the future of the Levin Landfill, and with community feedback and support, we have decided to close it and consider other uses for the site.

Key water infrastructure

Our district needed more drinking water, as our supply was critically low at less than one day’s supply. We needed to bring forward works on the Levin Wastewater Treatment Plan. We needed to make changes to reduce the impact of stormwater on the district’s land and people’s livelihoods. Council proposed to increase the budget to include these critical projects. We received community support for this proposal and Council has agreed to do this. This means the water supply will increase to 30 days, making a difference during the hot dry summer months as well as giving us more back-up if there’s a natural disaster. There’ll be more work across the district on reducing stormwater impacts. Our pipes will cope with our growing population.

Rates Review: A fair distribution of rates

Council also considered, and asked the community, whether how rates are shared could be fairer. As you’d expect, this was a big issue, and we received a lot of feedback during the consultation period and in submissions. Council decided not to change, as while it brought benefits to many, there were significant impacts on others. Instead, Council will review the Rates Remission and Rates Review policies to see what changes can be made to assist those significantly impacted. 

Development Contributions

We asked the community whether they supported increased development contribution payments to help meet the increased costs of water infrastructure programme upgrade. Council approved the increased Development Contributions and endorsed the proposed changes to the Development Contributions Policy. This reflects the increased cost of servicing the district, and having those increasing the demand on the water infrastructure paying rather than the costs falling on ratepayers as a whole. This is in line with Council’s approach in 2021, when the current policy was brought in.

Annual Plan 2023/2024

The Annual Plan 2023/24 which sets out this year’s rates increase is available on our Annual Plan 2023/2024 page.

You can view the original LTP 2021-2041 on our Long Term Plan 2021-2041 page.