Have your say on our draft Annual Plan 2026/27 | Mahere ā Tau

Have your say on Canterbury Regional Council's draft Annual Plan 2026/27, which outlines services, regional priorities and an overall proposed rates revenue increase of 2.9%.

Our Annual Plan 2026/27 | Mahere ā Tau sets out what we will deliver in the coming year and how it will be funded, including key Waitaha Canterbury services across environmental regulation, public transport and community resilience.

This plan is our commitment to Cantabrians. It shows how we'll support a healthy environment, resilient communities and a thriving region through the services and projects we deliver across Waitaha Canterbury.

Every three years, we prepare a ten-year Long-Term Plan (LTP) as part of our local government planning responsibilities. In between, the Annual Plan sets the priorities, activities, and budget for the year ahead.

What’s proposed for 2026/27?

The work we're proposing for 2026/27 aligns closely with what we've previously consulted on through the Long-Term Plan 2024–34 and last year's Annual Plan. Because no significant changes to activities or services are proposed, we're checking in with you on our plans.

While Central Government is proposing significant reforms to simplify local government, we remain responsible for delivering our statutory functions as a regional council, including environmental regulation and protection, public transport funding and operations, and hazard management.

Our focus for 2026/27 is on keeping regional council rates increases as low as possible, while continuing to deliver across our three core services:

Environmental Regulation and Protection
Community Preparedness and Response to Hazards
Public Transport.

The draft Annual Plan also includes changes to financial information compared with what was previously forecast.

How rates are affected

The total rates revenue increase initially planned for 2026/27 was 17.2%. However, with some work either being deferred or not going ahead, and some organisational savings, the total regional council rates revenue increase is now proposed to be 2.9%.

Regional council rates vary depending on property location and capital value. You can see example properties across the region to understand how rates may apply in your area.

What's changed:

Because we didn’t get funding from NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA), we’ve scaled back some planned public transport improvements, including changes to Route 1 and Route 5
This also means our public transport funding has been updated to reflect current funding settings
Funding for improvements in Rolleston services are no longer required due to a private service supplementing our Metro service
Funding to cover heavy vehicle road user charges for buses has been delayed until June 2027
We've revised our inflation assumptions down, based on the latest economic forecasts
We've allowed for the fact that some roles are not filled for the whole year
We've found other savings across a range of services.