We must tell the Council what we think about its budget cuts.

Last year, Wellington City Council passed their 10 year budget for Wellington, called the Long-term Plan. It sets budgets for everything the Council does: fixing pipes, building bus lanes, giving the city a glow up, and more. It’s a big deal. 

Originally, and controversially, the Long-term Plan was going to sell the Council’s ownership of the airport. Officials recommended selling the airport to reduce insurance costs for a once in a thousand year earthquake. The Long-term Plan passed with the airport sale, and then Councillors called another vote and stopped the airport sale. 

Because of that, the Long-term Plan has been revised with massive cuts to new infrastructure. Council officials want to cut nearly $400m of infrastructure spending over the next decade. 

Guess what’s getting cut? Bus lanes, bike lanes, city centre improvements, and footpath improvements. In other words, all the shit that gets people off petrol and into cheap, climate friendly transport.

I’ve made a five minute submission template below to rally against these funding cuts. Submissions close on the 21st of April, so get on it!

Let’s explore what’s being cut, the ridiculous assumptions behind the cuts, and how we can act.

The low carbon transport cuts, explained.

Half of the city’s pollution comes from transport. Cutting pollution from our journeys should be our biggest priority. Thankfully, we can save people money, improve our health and make the city safer for kids through buses, footpaths and bike lanes. These are all low pollution ways to get around.

The Council has been quickly delivering low pollution transport improvements. Adelaide Road now has a bus lane for thousands of morning bus commuters. Bicycles are booming in town because of the rapid rollout of the bike network. Berhampore and Island Bay have been delivering people focused footpath improvements. 

There is lots left to do, and the Long-term Plan is cutting swathes of the necessary funding to achieve it. 

The bike network that was promised in 2022 will only deliver half of what was promised by 2032. The next half (~80km of lanes) is promised by 2042 but has no funding attached to it. 

Bus lanes, used by 25% of Wellington commuters, are under threat. Dedicated lanes for buses on the Harbour Quays will only be “interim” lanes and permanent improvements will be cancelled. The Eastern suburbs are losing $10m of budget from their bus lane improvements. 

The revised plan also explains that there will be no money for more bus lanes for the next decade. Instead, buses with hundreds of commuters will have to be stuck behind cars that, on average, carry 1.6 people each.

For the last three years, we’ve seen how quickly the council can deliver transport projects. Bike and bus lanes have been built fast. This plan will bring back the good old days of stretching out delivery of new infrastructure for as long as possible. This approach causes resentment and cancelled projects. Voters want action, not delays.

Here’s the weirdest part about this. All of these cuts are coming from a Council committed to aggressively cutting our pollution.

Less money for new bus lanes, more money for maintaining the car-focused network.

These budget cuts, like all budget cuts, are incredibly political.

Two thirds of Wellington’s walk, bus, train, and bike to work. By cutting bus lanes, footpath improvements, and bike lanes, the majority of commuters are being shafted. Improvements to their commute might be sent to the bin. 

Keeping these projects has been made a lot harder by Simeon Brown’s choice to make huge cuts to walking and cycling funding last year. 

The infuriating thing is that being able to get around these ways are popular. Only 27% of Wellingtonians want to drive to work, yet 34% have to. Nearly half of Wellingtonians would love to bike, scoot, or walk to work. Cutting the projects to make these transport options possible is denying our citizens of the city they want.

This budget also goes against Wellington’s proclaimed priorities. The council explicitly promised to prioritise walking, scooting, and public transport above cars and has made that promise for the last decade. 

Funding is increasing for maintaining the car-focused network and budgets are being cut to deliver on their “priorities”. By increasing funding for the status quo, this budget is funding the exact opposite of their goals. 

The plan’s debt limits are also arbitrary. Technically, our council can borrow up to 280% of their yearly income. Officials want to lower that limit to 200% so in the case of an extreme earthquake they have an additional 80% they can borrow. That’s only possible through substantial budget cuts.

All of these projects are being cut to cover insurance for a once in a thousand year earthquake. Will cutting all these good things mean we can cover all the costs of such a devastating earthquake? Nooope. 

These cuts don't cover the underinsurance problem the Council wants to solve. Not even close. The central tension at the heart of this plan is: should we build things to stop incredibly likely climate disasters, or prolong polluting so we are slightly less uninsured for an extreme earthquake?

If climate conscious councillors vote for the new Long-term Plan, they’re choosing to cut loads of projects that try avoid likely climate disasters to be a little more protected against an apocalyptic and unlikely earthquake. It doesn’t have to be this way.

They could accept more financial risk from a once per millenia quake. They could close more city streets to cars to avoid maintenance costs. They could accept a higher debt limit to future proof the city. 

The budget cuts as they stand aren’t inevitable. They’re political choices. If we want our elected leaders to choose differently, we have to demand it. 

How you can take action in five minutes. 

If you want the council making different choices, I have the template for you. Take five minutes customising my template and send it to feedback@wcc.govt.nz. Add your thoughts on different issues if you’d like. I haven’t covered some things like Begonia House repairs, selling the Karori Community Centre, raising rates for Airbnbs, or anything like that. 

This is your chance to share your thoughts, so make sure you do! This is what I’m doing to submit: 

RE: Long-term Plan 2024-34 amendment submission

Kia ora, my name is [Name]. 

I [live, work, and rent in Wellington]. I’d like to submit on the Long-term Plan. 

I do not support cuts to the transport projects made to help Wellingtonians walk, scoot, bike, and bus to get around. These transport cuts are being made to meet an arbitrarily set debt limit which will not come close to covering our underinsurance for a once in a millenia earthquake. 

Reducing our pollution as a city is a top priority of the City Council and the proposed Long Term Plan does not adequately deliver on that priority. I strongly urge councillors to adopt these changes to the Long Term Plan’s capital programme:

• Adopt Option 2 for Paneke Pōneke Bike Network: Deliver the full programme as planned over 10 years and fully fund the rollout of the primary and secondary network.
• Fully fund City Streets projects to make the city better to walk around and take the bus through. Specifically, fully deliver the Eastern Corridor and Harbour Quay Bus Priority Upgrades, and the Central City walking and cycling upgrades. Also, retain the $52.3m WCC budget for future bus corridors that are currently unallocated.
• Fully fund Safer Routes to Schools, Bus Priority Improvements and Footpath Structures Upgrades.

These projects can be funded if the Council refuses to lower its debt limit to 200% of income. 

I disagree with the argument that we must lower our debt limit to cover a tiny portion of our uninsured assets in the event of a 0.1% chance earthquake. Using extra debt headroom to reduce pollution is a far better way to allocate our city’s resources. Climate disasters are far more likely in the next century than the earthquake these budget cuts are premised on. 

If the Council needs to find budget cuts in transport, I suggest solutions like closing more city streets from car traffic to reduce wear and tear on roads. This would be able to cut some of the nearly $64m of budget increases in this plan for maintaining our existing road network.

[Add in any other thoughts you have on other projects.]

Now is not the time for cutting essential projects that prepare our city for a warming world. Prioritise reducing pollution and investing in future proofing Wellington. 

[Optional: I’d also like to speak to this submission to the Council.]

Sincerely, 

[Your name]

If you’d like to go further

Want to be a really active citizen? Send the same template to your individual councillors. Mine are Iona Pannett, Geordie Rogers and Nicola Young. Check which ward you live in and email your councillors. 

Even if you don’t agree with me, I’d love for you to submit. Barely anyone in our city does. The choice to make big cuts to our future infrastructure is a tough and thorny call. As citizens, we have an opportunity many do not enjoy to tell our leaders what we want for our future. 

We can loudly support Wellington leading the charge in cutting pollution. Submissions close on the 21st of April, so make sure you submit as soon as physically possible!

I asked the Council for a statement on the scale of proposed budget cuts here. I also asked for a breakdown of the budget cuts based on transport types. They couldn’t provide me that budget breakdown until after consultation ended, and didn’t provide a statement in time for publication.