Annual Plan 2025/26

An annual plan is produced in the two years between each Long Term Plan. The annual plan sets out how the council’s work programme will be funded over the next financial year and outlines any key changes to the long-term plan for that year.

Based on feedback and guidance from our community, the final Annual Plan 2025/26 was adopted on 26 June 2025. 

View the full Annual Plan document(PDF, 5MB)

Key decisions

  • Affordable housing - Due to the overwhelming support received from the community, the council will continue to explore opportunities to create a standalone entity to grow and improve Whanganui’s housing stock (see page 6 for more information).
  • Repaying debt - Given the strong level of support expressed by the community, it was confirmed that the council will proceed with the additional loan repayment of $590,000 on top of existing repayments (see page 6 for more information).
  • Strategy for Whanganui - With clear support expressed by the community, the council will consider the submissions and feedback received and these will inform any minor changes made prior to adoption (see page 6 for more information).

Rates rise for 2025/26

We predicted a 6.6% rates increase for the 2025/26 year in our long-term plan. Through a series of decisions that are outlined in the final annual plan document (see page 8), we have managed to get this down to an average rates increase of 2.2%. This represents the average rise across all sectors – commercial, farming and residential.

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