Let's Get Wellington Moving Submission

The Chamber makes its eighteenth submission since 2013 relating to the broader Let’s Get Wellington Moving programme

The Chamber has worked closely with Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) partners since 2017, and before this in the programme’s various forms, to ensure views of the Wellington business community on the proposals and their impacts are front of mind. Our key messages remain consistent, and we continue to play a constructive role in the future development of Wellington’s transport infrastructure.

We also want to acknowledge and thank the LGWM team’s engagement to date. While we have not always agreed, they have continued the dialogue and we look forward to continuing our discussions ensure the very best outcome for the city and its users.

Overview

The Chamber supports the overarching goals of the wider Let’s Get Wellington Moving, but have some serious reservations about the details, including changes in focus, timing, and delivery. Our views are well documented in our previous submissions to LGWM.

Wellington businesses themselves have a huge stake in ensuring the wider region’s public transport works – particularly given their financial contribution to the region’s public transport rate, 39 per cent of regional funding is rated from Wellington businesses. This is an excessive subsidy from Wellington CBD based businesses to other user groups, seven times as much on the dollar that cannot be sustained. For example, the building that our organisation occupies a floor within currently pays 85 per cent of its total GWRC rates bill towards the targeted transport rate alone - $55,069.26 of the total $64,531.38 rates bill.

On concerns on costs, earlier this year Treasury’s Budget Economic and Fiscal Update warned that the LGWM programme is ‘expected to cost significantly more than previously estimated, increasing the risk that it may not be delivered in full’. The Chamber has consistently maintained that the LGWM funding split between Central and Local Government was an unfair deal for the city, with Central Government not taking on their fair share of the costs. In some ways, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Treasury has flagged the funding arrangement and Council’s contribution as a concern, given it unfairly shifts costs onto Wellington ratepayers who right now can’t afford any further rates increases...

Download the full submission.