Annual Plan | Mahere ā Tau 2025/26

The final Annual Plan was adopted by Council on 25 June 2025.

How did we get here?

Every year, every council in New Zealand needs to produce an Annual Plan. These details include the work we’ll do and how much it will cost.

This links in with our Long-Term Plan, which is produced every three years. If our plan for the coming year needs to change from what was proposed in the Long-Term Plan, we often need to have a conversation with the community about this.

This is what occurred this year.

📣 Feedback: In February and March, we talked to you about public transport changes, especially in Greater Christchurch. We also took the opportunity to get your feedback on proposed changes to our Fees and Charges Schedule.

📑 Submissions: A total of 744 submissions were received during the consultation period, with strong responses from Selwyn and Christchurch residents.

👂 Hearings: In May, hearings took place. We heard from those submitters who wanted to come in and talk with councillors about their submission.

🗣️ Deliberations: Councillors then met as part of deliberations in May. This is where councillors consider everything they have heard and make key decisions about what will be included in the final Annual Plan for the coming year.

Key decisions made by Council included:

  • not proceeding with a proposed Darfield to Rolleston public transport trial
  • implementing improvements to Route 85 (Rolleston to City direct) and Route 86 (Darfield to City direct), subject to fleet availability
  • increasing support for community vehicle trusts
  • setting up a strategic framework to assess requests for public transport outside the existing Greater Christchurch and Timaru networks.

And now that the annual plan has been adopted, we can confirm there will be an average total rates increase of approximately 5.8%, down from the proposed 9.9% total average increase that went out for consultation.

Changes to resource consent fees and charges were also approved, and the new Fees and Charges Schedule was adopted, effective from 1 July 2025.

📰 Read our latest media release and watch Chair Craig Pauling and Deputy Chair Dr Deon Swiggs share highlights: Annual Plan 2025/26 adopted following strong public feedback

The final Annual Plan was adopted by Council on 25 June 2025.

How did we get here?

Every year, every council in New Zealand needs to produce an Annual Plan. These details include the work we’ll do and how much it will cost.

This links in with our Long-Term Plan, which is produced every three years. If our plan for the coming year needs to change from what was proposed in the Long-Term Plan, we often need to have a conversation with the community about this.

This is what occurred this year.

📣 Feedback: In February and March, we talked to you about public transport changes, especially in Greater Christchurch. We also took the opportunity to get your feedback on proposed changes to our Fees and Charges Schedule.

📑 Submissions: A total of 744 submissions were received during the consultation period, with strong responses from Selwyn and Christchurch residents.

👂 Hearings: In May, hearings took place. We heard from those submitters who wanted to come in and talk with councillors about their submission.

🗣️ Deliberations: Councillors then met as part of deliberations in May. This is where councillors consider everything they have heard and make key decisions about what will be included in the final Annual Plan for the coming year.

Key decisions made by Council included:

  • not proceeding with a proposed Darfield to Rolleston public transport trial
  • implementing improvements to Route 85 (Rolleston to City direct) and Route 86 (Darfield to City direct), subject to fleet availability
  • increasing support for community vehicle trusts
  • setting up a strategic framework to assess requests for public transport outside the existing Greater Christchurch and Timaru networks.

And now that the annual plan has been adopted, we can confirm there will be an average total rates increase of approximately 5.8%, down from the proposed 9.9% total average increase that went out for consultation.

Changes to resource consent fees and charges were also approved, and the new Fees and Charges Schedule was adopted, effective from 1 July 2025.

📰 Read our latest media release and watch Chair Craig Pauling and Deputy Chair Dr Deon Swiggs share highlights: Annual Plan 2025/26 adopted following strong public feedback

  • CLOSED: This survey has concluded.

    Annual Plan 2025/26 submission form | Puka urupare

    We would like your feedback on our draft Annual Plan 2025/26 which proposes changes to Year 2 of our Long-Term Plan 2024-34. These changes are in our public transport core service. We also want your feedback on some changes we are proposing to fees and charges for our resource consents service. Both topics are outlined in our consultation document and on these pages. 

Page last updated: 27 Jun 2025, 12:41 PM