Whanganui District Council is working on a new vision and strategy for our district.
In 2014, Whanganui’s Leading Edge Strategy offered a vision for a better connected, creative and prosperous district.
Much has been accomplished since then – check out our reflections document and media release – but now we need a bold new vision and direction for Whanganui.
For the 2024 version, we are focusing on wellbeing under four headings: social, economic, environmental and cultural.
Why is wellbeing important?
By wellbeing we mean the social, economic, environmental and cultural health of our community; the things we can build-on or change to make a positive difference to everyone’s experience of living in Whanganui.
Wellbeing has been one of the core purposes of local government since it was included in the Local Government (Community Well-being) Amendment Act in 2019. This meant councils would be responsible for improving the wellbeing of our communities.
Our collaborative approach
We are taking a collaborative leadership approach, working with Hapū and our wider community to determine the vision for Whanganui. Between May and November 2023, we undertook online polls and enjoyed meeting with our community at workshops, events, shopping and community centres and marae. More than 660 people responded to our wellbeing survey in September/October.
Survey results were presented to the council's Policy and Strategy Committee on 28 November 2023.
How we will bring the vision to life
While we are developing the vision and strategy, we are also preparing for consultation on our Long-Term Plan 2024-34. The long-term plan sets out what council will be doing over the next 10 years.
Our Long-Term Plan allows us to implement or put the vision into practice and will be our first opportunity to allocate funding to projects that align with the new vision. We have prioritised completing the Long-Term Plan and ensuring we deliver the best outcomes we can in the current economic environment where consultation on our Long-Term Plan will take place from 2 April – 2 May 2024.
Our longer-term vision out to 2050 is still in development and we will be returning to the community for your feedback on this later.
How to stay up-to-date
In the meantime, here are a couple of ways you can be involved and stay updated:
Our District Your Say
Antenno for reminders about in person or online events.