Judging Little
Received a pamphlet from Andrew Little in the letterbox. He makes five key pledges in it, so I thought it would be useful to record them here, and analyse how one could judge if he has kept his word, if he is elected Mayor.
They are:
1 Keep Rates down
A rates increase no larger than inflation would fulfil this promise well. But what could count as even a partial success? Well the Whanau Council has a 12% rates increased planned for next year, so a minimal success would be getting that to under 10%.
The current Council has further rates increases of 7% for out years. So rates increases of under 5% from 27/28 would qualify.
Little also said he wants independent monitoring to stop cost blowouts. So if there are no cost blowouts under his term as Mayor, that would be a win. In the good old days you had a 10% contingency for costs blowouts so you could say anything over 10% over budget is a blowout. But considering this Council routinely sees cost blowouts of over 100%, let’s be kind and say it is a kept promise if no major project comes in at more than 20% over the initial cost agreed to.
2 More affordable housing
Andrew has said he wants to make consents quicker and easier. So this would be a kept promise if this happens. In the year to June 2025 there were 433 new dwelling consents. So one would expect the year to June 2027 to be above 450 at a minimum. Same as major cities.
The median time for a building consent is 10 days. This is somewhat misleading as Councils can stop the clock by constantly asking for more info, but this is the official statistic. So one would expect the median time to drop to below 10 days.
3 Cheaper, more reliable public transport
A nonsense promise about supporting a weekly cap on train and bus fares. WCC has no role in setting public transports fares – GWRC does that. So all Andrew is saying is he will write a letter, and GWRC will write back and say “nice idea, who will pay for it”. It is by the way a good idea. Is already planned for when new ticketing system implemented.
One way to reduce public transport fares is to reduce the zones within Wellington City from 3 to 2, but Little has not said he’ll support this.
He did also say he wants to improve bus priority. There are currently 20 bus lanes (at certain times) and 12 bus only lanes. So an increase in this number would arguably meet that commitment.
4 Protect libraries and swimming pools
Andrew says he will prioritise community facilities for investment. The LTP has $60.5m set aside for renewing community facilities for 2024-2034. So one would expect Little’s first plan would see that increase.
Will he support funding for a Northern Indoor Rec Centre?.
5 Make Council accountable to you
Andrew says he will end the misuse of commercial sensitivity. Had one to measure but I guess look out for how often Council (if he is elected) refuses to release info using this ground.
He says he wants Council to listen more. The annual residents survey found only 23% think WCC makes decisions in best interest of the city. So if he can improve that, that would be a win.