Our Long-Term Vision

This is City Builders Association's updated position on Auckland Council's Long-term Plan 2027–2037. It is Version 2 (October 2026) of our paper Our Long-Term Vision, and it supersedes our submission of 6 August 2026.

It is a pre-consultation position paper. No LTP 2027–2037 consultation is open yet. We are publishing it now so it can inform officer advice and the Mayoral Proposal, and we will lodge a formal submission when the Consultation Document is released.

A lot has changed since August. City Rail Link opened on 13 September 2026. A Bill that would cap the average rates price is awaiting the new Parliament. New planning statutes received assent on 30 September 2026. The Governing Body has adopted the local board funding model for the next LTP. Council has also been the road controlling authority since 7 May 2026. Each ask in the paper names who should act, what they should do and when, and how success should be measured. Where an ask needs new or reprioritised money, the paper says where it should come from, and the costs are to be worked out by council officers.

Read the full paper (PDF)

Our 16 priority asks

• R3.1 Plan openly against the rates cap: show the legal band and Council's own forecast separately.
• R3.7 Charge users their full cost: review fees and charges against cost recovery and publish the ratios.
• R4.1 Do not move rates onto business to keep the residential increase inside the band.
• R4.2 Publish a rates distribution statement every year.
• R5.1 Adopt a proactive publication code: contracts register, spending disclosure, decision logs and workshop materials.
• R5.6 Publish a 30-year whole-of-life cost before deciding any capital project above $10m.
• R6.1 Hold the new transport bodies to three published tests: reliability, decision speed and public trust.
• R6.8 Make the rail network safe after dark, with more visible Transport Officers at priority stations and on night services.
• R6.12 Put the next rail dollars into nine-car platforms and reliability ahead of a $2.7bn crossings programme.
• R6.14 Protect the Avondale–Southdown designation before it lapses.
• R7.1 Set up Growth Infrastructure Delivery Units with ring-fenced funding for PC120 catchments.
• R8.1 Adopt the canopy and heat framework with five measurable outcomes (O1–O5).
• R8.4 Apply a public-tree removal test and a year-10 canopy replacement rule.
• R9.1 Consult on a regional sport targeted rate to stabilise and ring-fence sport funding. It would be flexible across programmes, clubs, access, opening hours and capital, and fully offset within the rates path.
• R10.1 Publish a residual waste capacity plan for the gap after Redvale's current consent ends in December 2028.
• R12.1 Make local board plans real service-level documents with costs, as the law requires.

Status and timing

• No LTP 2027–2037 dates have been published. On the 2024 precedent, we expect a Mayoral Proposal around December 2026, consultation around February–March 2027, final decisions around May 2027 and adoption by 30 June 2027. These dates are our inference; Council has not published them.
• The Rates Capping Bill had its first reading on 1 September 2026. Parliament dissolved on 1 October 2026 for the 7 November 2026 election, so the Bill awaits the new Parliament.
• Our August submission did not reflect some earlier changes either: the transport governance reform, the Plan Change 120 decision of 23 July 2026 and the disestablishment of Eke Panuku on 1 July 2025.

Financial strategy under a rates cap

The Bill sets a 2–4% target range (the "band") on the average rates price. For this LTP, Council must have regard to the band in 2027/28 and 2028/29 and comply from 2029/30. The LTP 2024–2034 forecast average rates increases at or below 3.5% from 2027/28. That 3.5% is a forecast in Council's own plan, not a cap. City Rail Link costs $235 million a year to own and run.

• Show the statutory band and Council's own forecast rates path as two separate lines. The Consultation Document must not describe a forecast as a cap.
• Publish the rates-price calculation for each year, and scenario tests at 2%, 3% and 4% rates-price growth.
• Fund depreciation in full in every year, and admit no new facility to the LTP unless its whole-of-life cost is shown and funded.
• Publish a surplus property review and a ten-year City Rail Link cost line, and report savings each quarter, separating permanent savings from one-off deferrals.

Who pays: the business share

Businesses contribute 31% of the rates covered by Council's rating policy. In 2026/27 the average business property rose 10.47%, compared with 7.9% for the average residential property. The Bill caps the average rates price but says nothing about how the total is shared, so a council could comply with the band while increasing the business burden.

• Write into the Revenue and Financing Policy a commitment not to raise the business share to keep the residential increase inside the band.
• Publish a rates distribution statement in the LTP and each Annual Plan.
• Commission an independent analysis of the 31% business share and put explicit options for it in the Consultation Document.
• Review the Rates Remission and Postponement Policy so businesses facing sharp revaluation-driven increases can be offered a phased transition. Costs are to be worked out by council officers.

Capital discipline and transparency

More capital spending now sits directly under the Governing Body, so a published transparency standard matters more.

• Adopt a proactive publication code by resolution: a contracts register, spending disclosure, decision logs, and workshop materials once decisions are made.
• Release cost, risk and contingency information for every capital project above $10 million, and publish a public-interest balancing statement whenever commercial sensitivity is claimed.
• Require a 30-year whole-of-life cost before any decision on a capital proposal above $10 million, with independent scope and cost reviews for major projects.
• Name one accountable approver for contract variations on each major project, and report every project whose cost variance exceeds 10%.

Transport

Council became the road controlling authority on 7 May 2026, and Auckland Transport now focuses on buses, trains and ferries. The CRL recorded 528,007 rail boardings in its opening week, compared with 325,203 the week before.

• Include three tests in the LTP performance framework: reliability and journey time, decision speed for growth infrastructure, and public trust. Assign a named committee and lead councillor to each arterial corridor, and back local boards' new road powers with existing local-road budgets and staff (costs to be worked out by council officers).
• Review the CRL service pattern after at least six months of operation, then annually. Increase Transport Officer presence at priority stations and on night services, funded from Auckland Transport's existing operating budget (costs to be worked out by council officers), and publish incidents per million journeys.
• Prioritise nine-car platforms, southern paths and reliability works ahead of grade separation. Name the Avondale–Southdown corridor a strategic priority before the designation lapses on 31 August 2029.
• Keep one published corridor account for each arterial. We have withdrawn our earlier call for a 12% active transport floor in favour of value-based ranking. Time-of-use charging should be supported only once alternatives are operating.

Growth, housing delivery and infrastructure

Plan Change 120 concentrates capacity around centres and rapid transit. Council is to make final decisions in June 2027. Zoning is a planning decision; delivering the pipes, roads and facilities is a capital delivery problem.

• Set up Growth Infrastructure Delivery Units for PC120 priority catchments by redeploying existing capital delivery teams and using growth funding already in the LTP. Costs are to be worked out by council officers.
• Tie growth capital to published infrastructure capacity assessments for each priority catchment.
• Make the 6 October 2026 resolution on unanticipated development work by publishing each assessment, stating which services will be deprioritised and adding LIM notations.
• Publish first-time building inspection pass rates and scale up remote and risk-based inspection, funded from consent fees under full cost recovery (costs to be worked out by council officers).

Urban canopy, heat, parks and open space

Auckland's urban canopy is about 18%, against a target of 30% by 2050. Under current law that target cannot be delivered on private urban lots.

• Adopt outcomes O1–O5 as the operating measures, starting with no net loss of public canopy by local board and funded planting in hot, low-canopy areas by 2032.
• Remove public trees only for safety, biosecurity or infrastructure that cannot be redesigned, with replacement canopy by year 10.
• Develop a covenant product for retained trees and pilot private retention grants within existing parks budgets, and appoint one senior officer accountable across departments from existing staffing. Costs are to be worked out by council officers.
• Publish open space capacity assessments for every PC120 priority catchment, and reinvest any reserve sale proceeds in the same catchment.

Sport and community services

Much of the money that keeps people playing sits in local budgets and savings targets that move each year.

• Consult on a regional Amateur and Community Sport Targeted Rate. It would be ring-fenced and flexible across programmes, club capability, access and affordability, opening hours and capital, and allocated by need through an independent panel.
• Fully offset the rate within the rates path from regional, not local, spending. Not backfilling the $7 million-a-year major events funding gap is the first offset. The Chief Financial Officer should publish the costed reprioritisation, and the rate's yield is for officers to estimate.
• Recognise multi-club hubs as community infrastructure, converting existing annual contestable grants into multi-year agreements (costs to be worked out by council officers), and revise the Community Occupancy Guidelines.
• Set minimum opening hours for libraries, pools, halls and sports fields, protected from the sport rate offsets. Costs are to be worked out by council officers.

Residual waste

Redvale Landfill is consented to receive waste only until 31 December 2028, and its replacement is unlikely to operate until the mid-2030s.

• Include a residual waste capacity plan for December 2028 to the mid-2030s, with options, costs and risks.
• Prioritise organics diversion and anaerobic digestion, funded within the existing waste targeted rate, waste levy funding and user charges rather than adding to the rates path. Costs for this and the capacity plan are to be worked out by council officers.
• Make no commitment to thermal treatment of mixed waste before a full public assessment, and sign no put-or-pay contracts.

Water and Watercare accountability

• Restate that Watercare will remain in public ownership, and commit to public consultation before any change to its ownership.
• Publish ten-year and long-run water charge forecasts for a typical household and business.
• Publish how stormwater and other water costs are split between rates and water charges.

Local boards

On 29 September 2026 the Governing Body adopted the fairer funding model by 13 votes to 3 with one abstention, rebasing local funding on population (80%), deprivation (15%) and land area (5%).

• Local board plans should state default service levels, each variation with its cost, and the funding source, as section 20 requires.
• Allow carry-forward of funds for approved multi-year work.
• Set protected minimum local service levels in the LTP, and never use local board budgets to absorb regional overruns. Costs are to be worked out by council officers.

Heritage, vacant buildings and adaptive reuse

• Adopt a policy requiring weatherproofing, a conservation management plan and reuse milestones for vacant Category A places.
• Secure these for Carrington Building One now, while RMA tools remain available during the transition.
• Use the Property Maintenance and Nuisance Bylaw consistently, and speed up low-impact changes of use.

Hazards and regional parks

• Publish a hazard screen of the roughly 40 regional park campgrounds and overnight sites against flood and landslide mapping.
• Decide on camping at Piha Domain through public Reserves Act processes, costing reconfiguration or higher-ground options before withdrawal.

CCOs, cultural institutions and economic development

• Protect MOTAT's brand, collection, programming, volunteer model and Society role in a binding instrument before any Bill is promoted.
• Set MOTAT KPIs that match its statutory objectives, and consult Society members, volunteers, mana whenua and local boards.
• Measure economic development by business costs, regulatory times and talent retention, not event-attributed GDP alone.

Performance framework

• Adopt a limited set of measures with baselines, targets and reporting frequency, and report against them every year.
• Align CCO statements of intent with the LTP framework, with consequences for underperformance.
• Invite the Auditor-General to audit service delivery in Auckland.

Consultation design and evidence standards

• Make the key trade-offs explicit in the Consultation Document, including the rates path against service levels and the business share options.
• Require every survey cited in advice to state its sampling method, sample size and response rate, and label non-representative material as such.
• Analyse detailed submissions on their merits, and give elected members enough time to deliberate.

Contact

City Builders Association Limited is an Auckland civic think tank funded solely by membership. Mark Pervan is Founder and Director. For questions, or to work with us on any of these proposals, email founder@citybuildersassociation.org.