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WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL DRAFT ANNUAL PLAN 08/09
SOCIAL AND RECREATION
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MEASURING OUR PERFORMANCE
Libraries are places to read, listen,
find information, and get together.
Libraries enhance cultural well-being by providing
access to books, music, magazines and information.
They have a heritage role and a focus on Wellington
local history.
They enhance social connectedness by ensuring that
people have access to information resources and
providing focal points for community events. This
activity contributes to our goals of making Wellington
more liveable, more inclusive, more actively engaged,
better connected, healthier and safer.
We own and operate an extensive
libraries network.
This includes the central library and 11 branch
libraries spread throughout the city, specialist
collections, the libraries website
(www.wcl.govt.nz) and internet services, and a
variety of outreach programmes including books
to babies, and services to schools and to the
housebound.
Use of the libraries is very high: the vast majority
of Wellingtonians are registered as library users,
and on average almost 20 items are borrowed per
resident each year.
LIBRARIES
Our targets for 2008/09 are:
• 85% (1% increase from our 2007/08 target)
of residents surveyed have used a
WCC library (including website) in the last
12 months
• 92% (unchanged) of library users rate their
overall satisfaction with library services as
good or very good
• 3.2 million items (unchanged) will be issued
from WCC libraries.
PROPOSED VARIANCES
For the 2008/09 financial year, we are
proposing the following variances from our
2006-16 long-term plan: library material
upgrades – reduce capital spending by $177,000
with a 10 percent reduction in the purchase
of new materials; and a reduction to Central
Library furniture and equipment budget
of $100,000. These are part of a number of
savings from across our activities to ensure that
we stay within our borrowing limits.
.
What it will cost
OPERATIONAL SPENDING
CAPITAL SPENDING
Activity
User charges and
other revenue
$000
Net expenditure / rates
funding requirement
$000
Expenditure
2008/09
$000
Expenditure
2008/09
$000
6.4.8 Libraries network
(2,212)
19,821
22,033
2,136
Total for 2008/09
(2,212)
19,821
22,033
2,136
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SOCIAL AND RECREATION 59
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WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL DRAFT ANNUAL PLAN 08/09
MEASURING OUR PERFORMANCE
Sports and recreation are important
for health and well-being.
Access to sports and recreation opportunities –
for people of all ages, abilities and circumstances –
is important for health and well-being.
Recreation, sport and play also bring people
together, strengthening social cohesion. By offering
a wide choice of facilities and activities, Wellington
becomes a more appealing place for people to live.
Through our recreation facilities and programmes,
we aim for Wellington to become more liveable,
more inclusive, more actively engaged and
healthier.
We’re the city’s biggest provider
of places to play.
We:
• provide seven swimming pools (five indoor and
two outdoor), which collectively attract more than
1.2 million visitors each year – these pools provide
opportunities for fun, recreation, exercise, aquatic
sports, and learning water skills
• provide 46 sports grounds which provide year-
round opportunities for recreation and competitive
sport (cricket, softball, rugby, league, hockey,
soccer and netball and a range of other sports);
high-use facilities include the National Hockey
Stadium, Rugby League Park, Newtown Park and
Hataitai Park
• provide or support recreation centres in
five suburbs – Karori, Newlands, Kilbirnie,
Khandallah (Nairnville) and Tawa – which
provide a range of recreation, sport and leisure
opportunities, and together attract more than
280,000 users each year
• provide over 100 neighbourhood playgrounds and
skate parks throughout the city
• own two marinas, the Evans Bay Marina and
the Clyde Quay Boat Harbour, which provide
public boat ramp access to the harbour as well
as supporting the recreational activities of a large
number of boat owners
• are involved in dozens of recreational, sport,
fitness and leisure programmes across the city and
throughout the year – programmes include the
Run Swim series, Stepping Out Month of Walking,
Kids Kiwi-tri, Dance Your Socks Off festival and
many other programmes that together attract tens
of thousands of participants every year
• provide ongoing funding to the Basin Reserve Trust
to help ensure the iconic sports ground remains
New Zealand’s premier test cricket venue
• manage the Passport to Leisure scheme that
provides community services card holders with
discounted access to recreation centres, swimming
pools, and recreation programmes.
In the coming year we’ll continue to work on
the planning phase of the new 12 court indoor
community sports centre. We will lodge a notified
resource consent for the facility in the coming month
and construction is scheduled to begin this summer.
RECREATION FACILITIES AND
PROGRAMMES
Our targets for 2008/09 are:
• 60,000 (unchanged from our 2007/08 target)
people will use WCC recreation programmes
(excluding programmes offered at recreation
facilities)
• 70 WCC recreation programmes (unchanged)
will be held during the year (excluding
programmes offered at recreation facilities)
• 1,500,000 (50,000 increase) people will use
WCC swimming pools
• 95% (4% increase) of users surveyed will rate
the quality of WCC swimming pools as good or
very good
• WCC outdoor sports fields will have utilisation
rates of 68% (unchanged) in winter and
78% (unchanged) in summer – we will
also monitor usage and utilisation of the
new artificial surface at Nairnville Park (and
nearby sports fields)
• 80% (unchanged) of users surveyed will rate
the quality and maintenance of the sports
fields as good or very good
• 310,000 (unchanged) people will use WCC
recreation centres
• 88% (3% increase) of users surveyed will rate
the quality of WCC recreation centres as good
or very good
• 88% (unchanged) of residents surveyed who
have children under 14 will say their children
have used a WCC playground or skate park in
the previous 12 months
• 85% (unchanged) of residents whose children
use playgrounds or skate parks will rate those
facilities as good or very good
• 95% (unchanged) occupancy rate for berths
and boatsheds that are hired out
• 60,000 (5,000 increase) Passport to Leisure
users will participate in WCC recreation
facilities and programmes
• 30% (unchanged) of community services
card holders will participate in WCC
recreation programmes.
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We’re proposing to install Astroturf
in Nairnville Park.
High levels of demand mean that many of the city’s
sportsfields are over utilised, which is causing the
quality of the turf to decrease. There is also conflict
between training and competition, with training
lowering the quality of the fields for competition.
In the coming year, we are proposing to install an
artificial surface on the upper field at Nairnville
Park. The existing field has poor drainage and is
often out of action during winter months. With
the installation of an artificial surface, the facility
could be used 365 days a year regardless of weather
conditions. Floodlights are planned to allow use of
the facility to be maximised.
The project will act as a pilot and guide future
decisions on whether more of our sportsfields
require artificial surfaces. We’re budgeting $750,000
for this work in 2008/09.
We’re also increasing our sportsfields operations
budget by $88,000 in 2008/09 and $162,000 in
2009/10 to meet the increased costs of materials
used in maintaining the city’s sportsfields.
We’re proposing to provide funding
for new practice wickets at the
Basin Reserve
The Basin Reserve is one of the country’s premier
test cricket grounds. The Basin Reserve Trust is
seeking funding to build 11 practice wickets at the
south-western corner of the ground, behind the Sir
Ron Brierley Pavilion. Building these practice wickets
world allow players to practice while a match is
in progress, and enhance the main field (where
outdoor practice wickets are currently located).
While off-site practice wickets are not currently
required at test cricket grounds, it is likely they will
be required in future. We’re budgeting $450,000 in
2009/10 for this work.
What it will cost
OPERATIONAL SPENDING
CAPITAL SPENDING
Activity
User charges and
other revenue
$000
Net expenditure / rates
funding requirement
$000
Expenditure
2008/09
$000
Expenditure
2008/09
$000
6.1.2 Recreation
partnerships
–
630
630
–
6.3.1 Access support
–
74
74
–
6.3.3 Recreation
programmes
(230)
836
1,066
–
6.4.1 Swimming pools
(6,345)
9,703
16,048
1,776
6.4.2 Sports fields
(391)
2,793
3,184
1,337
6.4.3 Recreation centres
(664)
3,136
3,800
12,025
6.4.4 Playgrounds
735
735
519
6.4.5 Marinas
(531)
0
531
107
Total for 2008/09
(8,161)
17,907
26,068
15,764
PROPOSED VARIANCES
For the 2008/09 financial year, we are
proposing the following variance from our
2006-16 long-term plan: Aquatic facility
upgrades – defer capital spending of $2.45
million until 2009/10 for the Keith Spry Pool
upgrade, the Thorndon pool access and water
features projects. The Keith Spry pool upgrade
project needs to be considered alongside the
Johnsonville Centre redevelopment project.
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WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL DRAFT ANNUAL PLAN 08/09
MEASURING OUR PERFORMANCE
We aim to protect Wellingtonians
from health and safety hazards.
These hazards include earthquakes and floods to
crime, food-borne disease, dangerous dogs, and
other threats.
Health and safety are crucial to our goals of making
the city more liveable, more inclusive, more actively
engaged, better connected, healthier and safer.
Our work includes crime
prevention, public health
regulation, and more.
We:
• operate the Wellington Emergency Management
Office (WEMO), which works to ensure the city
is well-prepared for earthquakes, floods and
other emergencies
• work to ensure Wellington continues to be a safe
city – through measures that discourage crime and
tackle the causes of crime and disorder; key projects
include operation of closed circuit TV cameras in
the central city, monitoring by city safety officers,
banning liquor consumption in public places in the
central city at times, and ensuring public areas are
well lit and highly visible
• regulate public health activities in accordance
with legislation, bylaws and Council policies – this
work includes licensing of food premises, licensing
of liquor sales, registration of dogs, licensing
of businesses that discharge trade waste, and
inspection of these activities
• operate two cemeteries, at Karori and Makara,
as well as a crematorium at Karori Cemetery
• provide 60 public toilets throughout the city – since
2005/06 we have been increasing the budget in this
area to meet public demands for upgraded facilities.
We’re proposing a range of
initiatives to ensure Wellington
continues to be a vibrant and
safe city.
Most residents regard Wellington as a safe place to
live. Almost all (99%) feel safe during daylight hours
in the central city, but this falls to 74% after dark.
The Courtenay Place precinct – the city’s premier
entertainment area – has been the subject of a
comprehensive safety audit and we’re proposing to
implement a range of safety initiatives for this area
so it can retain its vitality and be a safe place to
enjoy at night. The initiatives include:
• introduction of a 24/7 liquor ban across the
central city and establishing an alcohol accord
with licensees, agencies, the local community
and Council to address safety and alcohol-related
issues
• increasing the number of our Walkwise staff
working in the city at peak times – Walkwise staff
will also have a presence in key suburban centres
• installing five more CCTV cameras in the central city
– including three in Courtenay Place
• upgrading street lighting in Courtenay Place and
revitalising the Courtenay Place streetscape
• establishing a late-night taxi stand and queuing
system and facilitating summer concerts in
Courtenay Place Park and convert the heritage mens
toilet into storage space and dressing rooms.
• establishing a dedicated Council officer to manage
safety issues relating to Courtenay Place.
We’re budgeting $287,000 in operational funding for
these projects and $420,000 in capital funding.
PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY
Our targets for 2008/09 are:
• 83% (this is a 1% increase from our 2007/08
target) of WCC public toilets will meet the
required service level standard for cleanliness
(monitored through regular internal service
level audits)
• 60% (5% increase) of residents surveyed
are satisfied with the cleanliness of WCC
public toilets
• 55% (unchanged) of residents surveyed are
satisfied with the availability of WCC public
toilets
• all scheduled food premises inspections will be
completed during the year
• 95% (unchanged) of food premises with an
inspection rating of “excellent” or “very good”
will maintain or improve their inspection rating
(this excludes new premises and those that
have a change in occupier during the year)
• 100% (unchanged) of high risk licensed
premises and 25% (unchanged) of medium
risk premises will be inspected under the Sale
of Liquor Act (1998) during the year (note: low
risk premises are primarily restaurants and are
inspected by health officers)
• WCC City Safety Officers will patrol Wellington’s
inner city 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52
weeks a year
• 45 (unchanged) emergency preparedness
programmes will be carried out in schools and
70 (unchanged) will be carried out in businesses
during the year
• all of our emergency management partners will
be satisfied with overall emergency planning in
Wellington.
We will monitor and report on the number of
safety incidents in the Courtenay Place area
during the year.
We will also monitor perceptions of city safety by
measuring the percentage of residents surveyed
who rate city safety issues (such as vandalism,
graffiti, behaviour of others etc)
as a problem over the previous 12 months.
For cemeteries and crematoria, our
performance target is to retain ISO9001/
2000 accreditation.
What it will cost
OPERATIONAL SPENDING
CAPITAL SPENDING
Activity
User charges and
other revenue
$000
Net expenditure / rates
funding requirement
$000
Expenditure
2008/09
$000
Expenditure
2008/09
$000
6.5.1 Burials and
cremations
(791)
782
1,573
411
6.5.2 Public toilets
–
1,545
1,545
490
6.5.3 Public health
(2,090)
2,166
4,256
–
6.6.1 City safety
1,589
1,589
220
6.6.2 Wellington
Emergency
Management Office
(127)
2,270
2,397
–
Total for 2008/09
(3,008)
8,352
11,360
1,121
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Adequate homes are important for
health and well-being.
Ensuring access to housing builds social cohesion,
helps people to access the opportunities the
city has to offer, and contributes to Wellington’s
reputation as a close, caring community. This activity
contributes to our goals of making the city more
liveable, more inclusive, more actively engaged,
better connected, healthier and safer.
We provide homes for
Wellingtonians whose needs are
not met by other housing providers.
We own more than 2,300 housing units, which
we rent to low-income people. These homes are
allocated according to need.
All applicants for housing assistance are assessed
in line with our Housing Policy. To be eligible,
applicants must have modest incomes and assets,
their current housing must be inadequate for their
needs, and they must be in one of the following
priority groups: the fit elderly, refugees, people
with a physical or psychiatric disability, people with
multiple disadvantages, households who pay more
than half of their income as rent, migrants, and
people with physical disabilities.
We’ve entered a 10-15-year partnership with the
Government to upgrade our social housing stock,
making it safer and healthier, more energy efficient
and more modern. This work will include upgrading
insulation and ventilation, upgrading kitchens
and bathrooms, reconfiguring bedsits into larger
accommodation, addressing issues about safety and
security, and building code compliance including
earthquake strengthening. We’ll be continuing with
this upgrade work in coming years.
HOUSING
Our targets for 2008/09 are:
• 68% of applicants for WCC housing will be
housed during the year (a 1% increase form
our 2007/08 target)
• the average waiting time for applicants who
are housed during the year will be 80 days
(unchanged)
• 88% of WCC housing tenants surveyed are
satisfied with services and facilities.
What it will cost
OPERATIONAL SPENDING
CAPITAL SPENDING
Activity
User charges and
other revenue
$000
Net
surplus
$000
Expenditure
2008/09
$000
Expenditure
2008/09
$000
6.1.1 Community housing
(28,866)
(13,429)
15,437
14,635
Total for 2008/09
(28,866)
(13,429)
15,437
14,635
Note: The surplus reflects the impact of funding received for capital purposes.
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WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL DRAFT ANNUAL PLAN 08/09
MEASURING OUR PERFORMANCE
Wellington should be a city with
strong communities, a place where
everyone feels included.
Community strength is about celebrating diversity,
providing opportunities for people to get involved,
ensuring all people and groups can have a say
about the city’s direction and have opportunities to
live their lives as they wish, and looking after those
in need. Achieving these goals requires strong social
services and active support for community groups.
Our community support work aims
to provide assistance to people in
need, and opportunity for those
who seek it.
• We provide information, advice and advocacy
services to a wide range of people and
community groups; publish a directory of
community organisations; and support
community forums such as the Disability Forum,
Youth Forum and Pacific Forum through which
people contribute to civic life.
• We support Project Margin, through which
outreach workers are employed to help meet the
health and accommodation needs of homeless
people – this is one of several projects aimed at
assisting homeless people, including our provision
of community housing (see above) and of social
grants (see below) to organisations that work with
and assist the homeless.
• We provide grants for initiatives that support our
social and recreational strategic objectives – some
of these are for long-term partnerships, others for
one-off projects.
• We provide and/or support a network of
community centres and halls throughout the city,
and some provide locations for crèches.
• We assist community groups by subsidising office
accommodation costs
• We have successfully run a refugee and migrant
work experience programme in recent years.
This provides around 20 recent migrants with an
important stepping stone into fulltime work. We
expect to continue this programme in the coming
year with support from the Ministry of Social
Development and Work and Income, Wellington
• We support projects that encourage people to
develop information technology skills, and help
organisations to use information technology to
meet community objectives – this is provided
through funding to the Wellington 2020
Communications Trust, establishment of computer
rooms in our Newtown Park and Arlington
housing complexes, and provision of computers
and internet access for Newtown residents in
several Newtown community locations.
• We started construction of the new Newlands
Community Centre in January and the facility is
expected to open in October/November 2008.
In the coming year, we’ll explore
options for our community centres
and halls.
We’ll upgrade the floor at Thistle Hall in upper Cuba
Street. Assessments of the building have shown that
repair work needs to be carried out. A lift, ramp,
new staircase and disabled toilet will need to be
installed at the same time to meet the Building
Act accessibility requirements. We’re budgeting
$250,000 for this work.
We’re also looking at options in Khandallah.
We’ve received notice that the current community
centre (Cornerstone) will not be available after 2008.
We’re assessing whether the Khandallah Town Hall
is a viable alternative. We’re working alongside
local residents to agree the best way forward. No
budget has been allocated at this time - this is
expected by June 2008.
Last year, we set a series of fund raising
targets and milestones for The Crossways Trust –
a collection of Mount Victoria residents seeking
to purchase a house that has long been used for
community activities. The first of these targets falls
during consultation on this plan. Subject to that
target being met and the Council being confident
that the next targets will be met a decision on a
financial contribution from Council will be made
in June 2008.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Our targets for 2008/09 are:
• six (unchanged from our 2007/08 target)
community forums will be held during
the year, with combined attendance of at
least 750 (an increase of 25 people)
• 78% (2% increase) of residents surveyed are
satisfied with services and resources provided
by WCC to encourage strong and thriving
communities
• 74% (2% increase) of community group
members are satisfied with services and
resources provided by WCC/City Communities
(groups include ethnic, youth, Maori, Pacific,
disabled, elder etc)
• 500,000 (unchanged) people will use WCC
community centres and 65,000 people (3000
increase) will use WCC community halls (note:
users includes individuals that may make
multiple visits)
• WCC community centres will maintain at
least 58% (2% increase) occupancy rate and
community halls will maintain at least 25%
(unchanged) occupancy rate.
We also record the number of social and
recreational grant applications we receive, the
number receiving grants, and the total budget
allocation. Our target is for all social and recre-
ational grants to be distributed in accordance
with eligibility criteria.
We will monitor performance in the following
areas but we have not set performance targets:
• work with homeless people – we will report
(in our annual report) on the work we have
done in partnership with others
• community access to information technology
– we will report (in our annual report) on the
number of groups hosted on the Wellington
2020 Communications Trust’s Wellington
Community Net website www.wcn.net.nz
and the number of visits to the site; we
will also monitor the number of computer
courses held at the computer rooms in
our Newtown Park and Arlington housing
complexes, and the number of people
attending those courses.
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We’re also proposing ongoing
support for the Absolutely
Positively Pasifika Festival.
We held the inaugural Absolutely Positively Pasifika
Festival in February 2008. The festival acknowledges
the important contribution Wellington’s Pacific
people make to the city’s vibrant community life
and the success of the festival has prompted calls for
it to be held annually.
We’re budgeting $60,000 per year for Absolutely
Positively Pasifika Festival to be an annual event.
What it will cost
OPERATIONAL SPENDING
CAPITAL SPENDING
Activity
User charges and
other revenue
$000
Net expenditure / rates
funding requirement
$000
Expenditure
2008/09
$000
Expenditure
2008/09
$000
6.2.1 Implementation of
the homelessness strategy
–
496
496
–
6.2.2 Community advocacy
(152)
1,795
1,947
–
6.3.2 Social and
recreational grants
–
2,378
2,378
–
6.4.6 Community centres
and halls
(95)
3,262
3,357
628
6.4.7 Community ICT access
–
621
621
–
Total for 2008/09
(247)
8,552
8,799
628
PROPOSED VARIANCES
For the 2008/09 financial year, we are
proposing the following variance from our
2006-16 long-term plan: Youth cafe – remove
the $190,000 grant to the Boys and Girls
Institute for the establishment of a youth café
as the site cannot be developed.