What are we planning this year?

Council provides a range of regulatory services like building consents and environmental health. Our focus in the coming year will be making sure we are delivering a good customer experience and meeting our timeframes. Our Emergency Management work will be about building greater resilience and we will have a strong focus on growing our community engagement.

Council provides a solid waste management system for refuse and recyclables. This includes operating the landfill and recovery centre at Broadlands Road and five other transfer stations in the district. Renewal projects will continue to keep the district looking attractive and prevent harm to the environment and communities. We will also continue to explore alternative waste collection methods such as wheelie bins and kerbside food scrap collection, as well as investigating the future of the Taupō Landfill.

Under the Government’s Three Waters Reform programme these services will cease to be provided by Council from 1 July 2024 and will be transferred to a much larger entity.

There are no guarantees that the Taupō District’s water needs will be prioritised once Council is no longer providing the services. So, over the coming year we are working hard to make sure the critical improvements are made to meet the needs of our community and support continued growth before the change occurs.

We provide a wide range of facilities including libraries, museum, the Great Lake Centre, Taupō Events Centre, community halls, parks, reserves, sportsgrounds, public toilets and housing for the elderly.

Key projects include finishing Waiora House, upgrades to Owen Delany Park funded from the government’s ‘Better off’ initiative and various erosion mitigation projects around the lakeshore.

Our transport network isn’t just local roads, there are footpaths, streetlights, cycle paths, bridges, bus shelters, traffic signals, carparking and signage.

Along with maintaining this network and making it safer, we are undertaking investigations for a new bridge over the Waikato River into the Taupō town centre, new school bus shelters and finishing the East Taupō Arterial shared path.

We will continue to review our District Plan to ensure it stays relevant and enables the type of development the community wants.

We will be putting in place new reserve management plans for Tūrangi and Motutere.

Council will be preparing for the transition signalled by the Government’s reform of the Resource Management Act.

Council will also be preparing and engaging with the community on the Long-term Plan 2024-2034. This is the document that Council develops to identify its budgets and projects for the next 10 years.

Council investments include property and cash. Investments generate a return that can be used on projects and other initiatives. This is an area where significant change is being proposed.

We are asking for your feedback on whether to spend $7.6 million to develop a 6ha area of land in the East Urban Lands.

Other smaller land developments are also programmed within the industrial areas to free up more land for economic growth.

Council undertakes economic development to support our local economy via the promotion of our district to visitors, in-house events teams which support organisers to run community and commercial events and supporting Towncentre Taupō.

Council also provides funding to economic development agency Amplify to continue providing economic services to help attract new businesses to our district.