Your vote for a strong team is necessary to ensure change

Our community challenges are daunting, a mandate from the people of Kāpiti is needed for real change. Vote for our group so we can implement the crucial improvements needed in the place we love and call home. We have the plan, we just need your support.

AFFORDABLE RATES

What’s Happening?

1. Rates are rising steeply: Rates will increase by 115% in 10 years. A 17% rise this year and 7% next year are just the beginning.
2. Core costs spiralling: For example, Council spending on staffing increased by 35% between 2022 and 2024, and grants by 150% over the same two years.
3. Non-core activities prioritised: Council funds non-essential activities, ignoring spending discipline.
4. Unnecessary debt repayments: Debt repayment is prioritised over shared contributions from future generations, even though Kāpiti doesn’t face a debt crisis.
5. Higher living costs creating hardship:
   • Average rates per household may rise from $4,250 (2024) to $9,150 in 10 years
   • Rent may increase by $95/week, solely because of rates within the same period
   • For solo NZ Super recipients, rates hikes may consume over half their additional NZ Super payments over the next 10 years
6. Council favours its pet projects over ratepayer affordability. Council’s policy choices for rate increases are deliberate. The Council used to set rates to be no more than 5% of median income. But this year they increased that to 7% of median income.

Our Five Point Plan for Affordable Rates

Coming Soon

COMMONSENSE

What’s Happening?

1. Core costs are out of control: For example, staffing costs rose by 35% (2022–2024) at the same time as non-core and low-value activities expanded.
2. Spending way beyond core responsibilities: By adopting the untested “Doughnut Economics” model as its guiding principle, Council has license to spend on nearly everything, including areas beyond local government’s core role, such as:
   • Intergenerational equity reporting (a central government responsibility)
   • Economic development grants ($3.1M/year, mostly from residential rates)
   • Climate change activism (requiring coordinated global action)
   • A health strategy (Health NZ and the Ministry of Health’s domain).
3. Unfocussed spending increases: For example, grant spending surged by 150% (2022–2024), often on non-critical projects.
4. Poor performance and waste: Functions receiving the biggest budget increases perform poorly against the Council’s own targets (reported in its Annual Reports):
   • Governance: 0% performance in 2023/24, 155% funding rise planned for the next 10 years
   • Districtwide Planning: 33% performance in 2023/24, 117% funding rise in the last two years

This Council has lost control of its costs, focus, decision-making, and performance. It doesn’t have to stay this way.

Our Five-Point Plan for Commonsense Spending

Coming Soon

DEMOCRACY not BUREAUCRACY

What’s Happening?

1. Blindsiding the Community: Costly reports created without local input or even knowledge that the project is in progress, e.g. new flood mapping.
2. Predetermined Decisions: Council decisions are effectively made in advance, limiting access to balanced, objective analysis of alternative options.
3. Token Consultation: Feedback sessions are poorly advertised, brief, restricted, and often ignored. Drop-in sessions scheduled during work hours. Often no experts are available to answer questions.
4. Community feedback ignored: Action is seen when judicial reviews are started. Little feedback about consultation outcomes.
5. Limited Access: Council staff are prevented from connecting with residents and their concerns and perspectives. Inquiries are overly formalised.

Our Five-Point Plan for Real Local Democracy

Coming Soon

SUPPORT BUILDING AND BUSINESS GROWTH

KCDC’s lack of support for building and business growth is driving away potential investment, as the challenges make it too difficult to succeed.

What’s Happening?

1. Public Frustration Over Business and Building Consents: Approval delays are stalling growth. Excessive hurdles are driving developers, builders, and businesses away from Kāpiti. The impact stretches across ratepayers, developers, and professionals in architecture, real estate, and engineering.
2. Strained Public-Staff Relations: Persistent frustration between residents and staff due to:
   • Accessibility - Unreturned calls, frequent absences
   • Attitude - Defensive, pedantic, often hostile; rising tension with ratepayers and business
   • Process Issues - Conservative stance, no accountability, inconsistent rule interpretation
   • District Plan Issues - Outdated, rigid, misaligned with community needs, staff fear liability. Better service and accountability are long overdue
3. Lack of Transparency: Applicants unclear on processing timelines, costs, or outcomes.
   • Example: Building consent reviews take statutory 20 days, followed by prolonged requests for information (30–40 days total)
4. High Fees: Development levies, reserves contributions, consent fees, etc. make it hard for people to start and maintain business and building projects.
5. Rates Trajectory Harmful for Growth: Affordable rates support business growth and a thriving building industry. If costs keep rising, businesses and residents will be forced to leave, stalling development and making it too expensive to live and operate.

Our Five-Point Plan to Support Business and Building Growth

Coming Soon

REALISTIC COSTAL HAZARD POLICIES

Background

Kāpiti Coast’s coastal hazard policies must be based on sound local data, not extreme modelling. In 2012, KCDC added hazard lines to LIMs without consultation, affecting 1,800 properties. Coastal Ratepayers United (CRU) challenged this in court, leading to their removal.

A decade later, KCDC’s CAP used an even more extreme sea level rise model RCP8.5 (Representative Concentration Pathways), impacting 20,000+ properties. CRU commissioned Dr de Lange (formerly of Waikato University) to provide a more realistic assessment, finding only 49 properties at risk. Despite this, KCDC added general hazard notations to LIMs without notice.

Further individual hazard notations are proposed, risking property values and insurability. Decisions have been delayed until December 2026. Sensible, evidence-based solutions are needed.

What’s Happening?

1. Wasteful spending: KCDC has spent over $5m on reports that are being challenged by scientists and those with local knowledge, and that continue to use extreme risk scenarios.
   • The Coastal Advisory Panel’s (CAP’s) original budget of $1 million exploded past $5 million
   • Another Costly Mistake - Despite strong opposition to CAP’s extreme modelling, KCDC has once again wasted funds-this time on AWA Consultants’ flood maps that also use using outdated and incorrect data including RCP8.5. More expensive, flawed reports produced without transparency, leaving ratepayers to foot the bill
2. Extreme Modelling vs Reality: CAP’s projections identify over 20,000 homes at risk, while de Lange’s Report from Waikato University using a local data-driven model confirms we are safe with just 49 homes at risk-a stark contrast. CAP dismisses Kāpiti’s coastal resilience, relying on the Jacobs Report, which ignores seawalls and barriers.
3. Council Ignored Ratepayer Concerns and Failed Democracy:
   • Flawed Community Engagement - Poor CAP notification led to low turnout until residents stepped in
   • Predetermined Outcome? - CAP panel pushed a single viewpoint and did not answer questions raised by the public
   • Unannounced LIM Changes - The council added the Jacobs Report based on extreme and unlikely data measures without notice, impacting insurance. The de Lange Report was included only after CRU’s Judicial Review forced action
4. KCDC has stepped away from making decisions until December 2026: This means the future coastal flooding risk assessment of nearly 75% of Kāpiti under the proposed “Coastal Adaptation Areas” (CAA) is in limbo, which will affect:
   • Insurance - higher costs, or limited or denied policies
   • Mortgages - banks may limit lending, deny applications, or call in existing loans due to declining property values
   • Reduced property values affecting sales and refinancing - homes could become unsellable
5. Little to no investment is made in coastal protection measures. The climate has been changing for millennia and will continue to change. We can prepare for realistic change, but decisions on preventative investments have stalled.

Our Five-Point Plan for Realistic Coastal Hazard Policies

Coming Soon