Research shows Wellington residents unhappy with council direction
- Council must stick to the basics!
- Zero Rates Increase demanded by majority of residents
- Only 20% of residents support continuation of Golden Mile
- Social housing is not the role of council
- Party politics doesn’t belong around the council table
Most ratepayers and residents in Wellington believe the city council is heading in the wrong direction under the current leadership, that the city council is performing extremely badly and almost half think the mayor, Tory Whanau, is doing a poor or very poor job.
A Curia Market Research political poll for Better Wellington shows more than half of the voting public think the direction the Wellington City Council is taking with cycle ways, the Golden Mile, rates increases, social housing, among other important issues, is wrong.
There is a clear majority among Wellington voters that the current policy direction of the council is not working for the city.
The poll of over 1,000 people was conducted over the last week of January 2025 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%. When it comes to the right or wrong direction, only 27% of Wellington voters support the current approach of council, with more than half at 54% saying it is going in the wrong direction.
Similarly, more than half of Wellingtonians (51%) considers the performance of the council is poor or very poor, while only 15% say everything is tickety-boo, giving a net rating of negative 36%.
In respect of Tory Whanau’s performance, 46% believe the mayor has performed poorly or very poorly over the last year. That’s almost half the city! A further 27% deliver a verdict of “average”. A mere 17% thinks she’s doing marvellously.
The question has to be asked: do we want to be a city that’s just average?
And while those results are bad enough, it gets worse for specific issues.
An overwhelming 87% of Wellington residents believe the council should stick to the basics and fix the pipes. Remember when the Prime Minister Chris Luxon spoke at the Local Government NZ conference last year and told council representatives from around the country to focus on the same thing: fixing the basics. Unfortunately, such instruction elicited a harsh rejection from Ms. Whanau, who responded with a “stay in your lane” response.
We shall see how that plays out.
When it comes to paying rates, Wellington residents are adamant: the current direction of council spending is out of control and there should be much smaller rates increases, if any. Ultimately, the high level of rates rises are unacceptable, as many people keep telling Better Wellington, especially those on fixed incomes. City pensioners are worried they may have to sell their family home. (Advice from council staff that they could “go on a reverse mortgage” is extremely unhelpful.)
While Wellington City Council rates rises are unacceptable for most residents, 77% think that a rates increase should not exceed inflation. This is a huge number of people, many of whom are likely annoyed at double digit percent increases.
Further, 53% of Wellingtonians support a policy for residents to approve by referendum any large spending projects if the council wants to increase rates by more than inflation. Only 29% oppose this approach.
When it comes to cycleways, 63% say they’re low priority. That fits with residents wanting the council to fix the basics. More than half of Wellington, 52%, consider cycleways to be negative for the city; 54% want more regular bus services and 58% put train services as a high priority.
What is just as urgent, however, is that only 20% of residents want the mayor’s pet project, the Golden Mile, to go ahead. That’s not nearly enough support to continue with this. Our view is that not one shovel should go in the ground on the basis that most Wellington residents reject it. The council needs to abandon the Golden Mile immediately.
Almost $100 million per year of Wellington ratepayers’ money is being spent on social housing. We asked voters where responsibility for social housing lies; which arm of government should pay for it. A whopping 69% think social housing should be the role of and paid by central government, not the Wellington City Council. Only 11% of residents want it to remain with local council.
Lastly, but equally important, is the finding that 64% of residents agree that party politics doesn’t belong around the council table. How is that to be interpreted? Perhaps people think elected councillors should serve the interests of Wellington city, and that loyalty to a political party should be subordinate to that role?
OUR CONCLUSION
- The council must return to its perfunctory role. Stick to the basics.
- The council should work to keep the annual membership fees as low as possible. ZERO RATES INCREASE! That’s the BIG goal. The B minus is keeping rates rises to the rate of inflation.
- Stop work immediately on the so-called Golden Mile.
- Remove cycle ways, reinstall car-parks and focus your energies on better bus and train services.
- Social housing should not be the responsibility of the Wellington City Council.
- Vote for independent candidates, not those running with a political party.