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4 OVERVIEW
OVER
VIEW
WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL DRAFT ANNUAL PLAN 08/09
ER W
Under the Local Government Act, we have two
key roles. 1. To promote the well-being of Wellington
and its people. 2. To facilitate democratic local
decision-making.
The Wellington City Council is made up of 15 elected representatives – the mayor
and 14 councillors. It’s their job to make bylaws, set the city’s overall strategic
direction, and approve budgets, policies and plans aimed at achieving that
direction. A key part of their role is to listen and take the pulse of the community
before making decisions.
The elected representatives are supported by the Council’s chief executive and
1,450+ staff, who provide advice, implement Council decisions, and look after
the city’s day to day operations.
We aim to manage the city in line with
community aspirations.
After public consultation during 2005 and 2006, we set 13 long-term goals (or
“outcomes”) for Wellington – that the city will become more liveable, develop
a stronger sense of place, and become more compact, eventful, inclusive,
actively engaged, sustainable, safer, healthier, better connected, prosperous,
competitive, entrepreneurial and innovative.
The projects we fund – both the new projects explained over the next few pages
and our ongoing work programme explained in the ‘Our activities in detail’
section of this report – aim to fulfil these community expectations.
This draft annual plan is part of a longer-term
process of planning and asking for community views.
The Local Government Act requires us to plan in three-year cycles. Every three
years, we publish a long-term plan setting out our intentions for the decade
ahead – what we’ll do, how we’ll do it, how much we’ll spend, who will pay,
the levels of service we’ll provide, and how we’ll measure the quality
and effectiveness of our work. Our last long-term plan was in 2006; our next
will be in 2009.
In-between these long-term plans, we take a fresh look each year at our work
programme and consider whether any changes are needed – such as revisions
to our budgets or new projects to help deal with issues or challenges facing the
city. We publish a draft annual plan (this document) and listen to your feedback
before publishing an annual plan.
Last year, just under 1,000 Wellingtonians made their views heard on our draft
annual plan.
We’ll make ourselves accountable by reporting
on how we do for the year.
Every year, we also publish an annual report. This sets out how we performed
against the long-term plan or annual plan for the year. Did we do all we said
we’d do? Did we meet our budgets? Did we do as good a job as we should have?
Did we contribute to improvements in the overall well-being of Wellington and
its residents? The report is made available on our website and through libraries
and service centres, and a summary is sent to all Wellington households.
OUR ROLE
Our job is to look after Wellington,
now and into the future.