Next week at Council - 30 September
Published on 22 September 2025
Final meeting of the triennium has a packed agenda, and valedictory speeches.
The final meeting of the Waitaki District Council this term has an extended agenda, including valedictory speeches for the departing Councillors and Mayor. The Performance, Audit and Risk Committee meeting has been moved a day earlier to Monday 29 September to accommodate this.
Project Reclaim
A final report will be presented on the completed Project Reclaim. This includes a timeline of the project, which began in February 2021 and concluded in December 2024. A factsheet about the project is attached to this media release.
The total cost of the project was $18.5 million. However, the Government waived $4.05 million of the Waste Levy Rebate, and $1.5 million of the Emission Trading Scheme Levy. Following advocacy from the Mayor, a further $3 million was provided by the Government’s new Contaminated Sites and Vulnerable Landfill Fund (CSVL) to reduce the borrowing required to fund the project. That $3 million has been used to reduce Council’s debt position.
The total cost to Council for removing 69,000 tonnes of waste and placing it in a new engineered landfill cell was $9.95 million, or around $140 a tonne.
A fact sheet about Project Reclaim is available here(PDF, 182KB).
Beach Road
A result of 55% more waste material being found at the two fly-tip sites on Beach Road North was the temporary closure of the road. The community was consulted on options in the Long-Term Plan 2025-34, and the largest proportion of respondents selected closing the road.
The Mayor and Councillors requested more detailed options regarding reopening, or closing, the road. The report presented identifies four options for realignment and reopening, with estimated costs between $6.3 million and $10.01 million, and two options for closing the road with estimate costs of $4.61 million or $4.88 million.
These will be considered by Council, with the additional options of making a recommendation to the incoming Council – as funding for any decision will be part of the Long-Term Plan amendment they will be making next year.
A fact sheet about Beach Road is available here.(PDF, 177KB)
District Plan Recommendations
The Mayor and Councillors will be considering recommendations from the District Plan Review Subcommittee, relating to the Plan Stop legislation passed by the Government on August 20, 2025.
These include seeking exemptions for specific parts of the plan which relate to housing growth and subdivision, sites listed in the National Historic Landmark proposal by Heritage New Zealand, large industry zones for Macraes Mine, Pukeuri Freezing Works and Lean Meats, Energy, Infrastructure, Stormwater and Transport and others.
Exemption requests would then be made to the Minister for the Environment, and once responded to, Council will notify the community explaining the status of the Proposed District Plan.
Regulatory Reports, Parking By-Law Change and Loch Laird
The Annual Dog Report and the Annual ARLA Annual Report will be presented at this meeting. These cover the activities of Animal Management and Alcohol Licensing for 2024-2025.
It will also consider amending the parking by-law ahead of the arrival of new parking meters which will be pay by plate and not dispense tickets.
Council will also be considering the alcohol ban at Loch Laird’s upper terrace and Lake Benmore’s foreshore during Labour Weekend.
ENDS
media@waitaki.govt.nz