Council eyes $280m spendup

Wellington City Council is putting forward plans for a $280 million spendup as part of its draft LongTerm Plan set to be discussed by councillors next week.

At the top of mayor Justin Lester’s wishlist was $32m to complete the Prince of Wales Reservoir in the suburb of Mt Cook over the next decade.

The 35-million litre concrete reservoir, which could hold enough water to fill 14 Olympic swimming pools, would provide greater certainty of supply to the capital and its hospital, particularly in the wake of another big earthquake.

He has also earmarked $6.2m to upgrade the city’s wastewater and stormwater networks, $9m to improve floodprone areas of Tawa, and another $10m for stormwater upgrades on the Miramar peninsula.

Coastal erosion repairs to Worser Bay, Seatoun Beach and Evans Bay would get an extra $300,000 should the draft budget be signed off later in the year.

Lester said the ‘‘unprecedented’’ investment in resilience initiatives was necessary if the capital was to cope with future emergencies and climate change.

‘‘Last July, slips closed roads in Ngaio and Ngauranga Gorge, and we’ve narrowly escaped former tropical cyclone Gita recently,’’ Lester said.

‘‘We need to be ready to face these adverse events to minimise disruption ... and allow the city to bounce back as soon as possible.’’

The draft budget also revealed the council wanted to take responsibility for the city’s aging network of lateral pipes.

Just who was liable for repairing damaged lateral pipes, which transport waste to the public main, has recently been a hot-button issue for ratepayers.

In 2015, Miramar woman Stella Lawson was lumped with a $22,000 bill for fixing a broken lateral pipe that collapsed about six metres outside of her home’s boundary lines.

Then a year ago, Khandallah homeowner Warwick Eves was initially charged $9476 to replace a half-a-century-old sewer pipe in similar circumstances.

The council has previously resisted calls to take ownership of the pipes because of the estimated annual $1m price tag attached to it. The draft Long-Term Plan has only allocated $250,000 for pipe repairs.

But councillor Iona Pannett said ratepayers ‘‘would be happy about that’’.

‘‘It’s just not a good use of our time to be arguing with ratepayers when, really, it is our responsibility and sometimes it’s our trees that block [the pipes],’’ she said.

‘‘Essentially, it’s an amount of money that will be used if people come to us with problems, so in other words, we’ll fix them when they get stuffed up, not take full ownership just yet.’’

The proposed budget also included money for building strengthening, storm cleanups and transport improvements to Ngaio Gorge, the Seatoun and Northland tunnels, and the Kelburn Viaduct.

Councillors will discuss the draft document next Wednesday, with public consultation starting on March 15.