| Council Meeting | Thursday 28 July | 1.00pm |
| Audit and Risk Committee | Thursday 11 August | 1.00pm |
| Cycling and Walking Subcommittee | Thursday 18 August | 3.00pm |
| Council Meeting | Thursday 25 August | 1.00pm |
| Council Meeting | Thursday 22 September | 1.00pm |
It’s that time of year again, and Council has made it even easier to re-register your dog. If there are no changes to your dog records, just visit our website and fill in the online form and then pay with your credit card or online banking online. It couldn’t be quicker.
Make sure to register your dog before 31 July to avoid any penalties. All dogs over the age of 3 months must be registered.
| Description | Fee (as at July 2021) |
| Rural | $58.50 |
| Urban | $74.00 |
| Responsible Owners | |
| Inspection fee (first year) | $50, plus registration fee |
| Registration fee (all areas) | $50 |
Council has recently adopted a Customer Complaints Management Policy, which is now available on our website.
Under the policy, customers who are dissatisfied with a service that they have already received are encouraged to inform Council and we commit to resolving any complaints in a fair, timely and confidential manner.
Complaints can be made using the online form, emailed to Council@westlanddc.govt.nz, over the phone on 0800 474 834 or by post to Westland District Council, 36 Weld Street Hokitika, Private Bag 704, 7842.
It does not replace the Service Request system for issues where Council needs to take action to fix something.
Our Pre-election report is now available on our website. This is essential reading for anyone considering standing for Council as it provides context for the work that Council is undertaking and information about current reforms. The Pre-election report also provides current and forecast financial information for the next triennium.
Nominations for Council open on Friday 15 July 2022 and close at midday (12pm) on Friday 12 August.
Elections will be held for:
Elections will also be conducted for other organisations within the Westland District Council area. These include the West Coast Regional Council and Development West Coast.
Nomination forms for each organisation are available on our website.
Enrolment packs for the Local Government elections have been sent out. If you are enrolled and have not received a pack you might need to update your details with the Electoral Commission. If you can’t do it online call 0800 36 76 56 or freetext your name and address to 3676 to get a form sent to you in the mail.
If you’re not enrolled and are 18 years old (or turn 18 before the election), a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident and have lived in New Zealand continuously for 12 months or more at some time in your life you should enrol to vote.
Enrol online here, or use the details above to contact the Electoral Commission.
Rates invoices for the 2022/2023 year will be on their way soon. If you pay your rates by automatic payment through your bank then you should check your invoice to ensure that your payment will cover the full invoice amount.
If you would like assistance to recalculate your payment and avoid late penalties, please contact the Rates officer on 0800 747 834 or email rates@westlanddc.govt.nz.
Alternatively, you could set up a direct debit payment through our website and let Westland District Council do the hard work for you.
If you are still holding onto any old computer or camera equipment now is the time to recycle it. Recycling allows the valuable material inside electronics to be extracted and reused, reducing the impact on the planet and tidying up our homes.
Free e-waste recycling services have been extended to 30 September 2022 for the community to drop their unwanted items to the transfer station at 84 Hau Hau Road in Hokitika.
Mobile phones, phone charges and cables continue to be accepted for recycling through the Noel Leeming partnership programme with RE:mobile; a cellular phone recycling scheme.
This month the library joined many other libraries across New Zealand and removed overdue fines for adult issues. Fines are seen as a barrier to people joining and visiting the library. Staff want to encourage everyone to come to the library and use their services and not worry about being charged if they do not manage to return their items on time.
Any fines that were outstanding have been waived but the library staff would appreciate overdue items being returned!
Join library staff for an hour of fun activities inspired by Te Whare Tapa Whā on Tuesday 19 July at 10am, Wednesday 20 July or Thursday 21 July at 3 pm. We will be doing some animal yoga, making a collage of our wishes for the year to come and crafting a wind chime from natural materials.
Suitable for children 5-10 years.
Children under 8 years must be accompanied by an adult. Spaces are limited, book your free ticket by clicking here. A ticket will be required for each child (accompanying adults do not need to book tickets for themselves).
Good news for our South Westland borrowers, the Franz Josef book drop is back in action (on a trial basis). You will be able to return Westland District Library items to the box at the Four Square Supermarket in Franz Josef and they will be collected and returned to the library in Hokitika on a regular basis.
A huge thank you to Cushla Jones at Four Square Franz Josef for hosting the book drop for us.
Visiting engines from a number of train enthusiasts from Halswell, McLean’s Island and Greymouth helped to celebrate the Matariki Weekend at the Mudfish Bush Railway at Westland Industrial Heritage Park. Although the weather wasn’t too kind, quite a few people turned up to ride the trains on Friday and Saturday. The experimental night run on Saturday was an outstanding success.
Planning and fundraising for the signwriting and insignia for the Museum of Fire are well advanced and the tar-sealing of the floor is imminent.
In the Boatshed and Livery work on refurbishment of leather and metal goods has continued. Again planning to extend the shed and upgrade the displays is well advanced and awaiting fundraising to progress.
The sewing machine display grows almost by the day and has been joined by some weaving looms.
This area where visitors are encouraged to “have a go”, is very popular and a great addition to the Park, with lots of ideas and potential for development. We encourage you to come and visit and see what you can have a go at!
Work on the foundations for the twin cylinder steam engine from the Gilbert and Tomasi sawmill is almost complete and reassembling the engine will follow in the next few weeks.
The Big Engine Shed display looks really great. The addition of the sound and light show has raised the whole experience to a new level.
Find out about visiting the park or becoming a member on our website.
Text and image from Westland Industrial Heritage Park
Hokitika Museum recently appointed Brooklyn Moeke for a six-month internship at the Museum with the assistance of Mayors Taskforce for Jobs.
Brooklyn’s role is to research and develop blogs for the Musuem’s recently relaunched website. His most recent blog is ‘Lord of the Seals’, a biography of James Teer survivor of the shipwreck the ‘General Grant’.
Staff from Council undertake a lot of work out and about in the community performing different functions. If you are building a house you will likely have to undergo a building inspection, if you apply for a Manager’s licence you will have an interview with a liquor licencing inspector and if you visit the library you might need to speak to a librarian.
If staff need to speak to a member of the public outside of our offices and facilities they will generally make an appointment with you beforehand and:
If you are concerned that someone is impersonating a Council officer you can contact us on 0800 747 843.
Westland District Council has joined 26 other Councils from around New Zealand as part of the Welcoming Communities programme.
Welcoming Communities supports councils and their communities to create welcoming environments for newcomers, specifically recent migrants, former refugees and international students.
The programme involves local residents in developing, delivering and participating in welcoming activities. This approach increases social engagement and provides opportunities to build social connections.
Immigration New Zealand provides funding, resources, accreditation, best practice information, networking opportunities, programme evaluation and guidance to participating councils.
Sitting at the gateway to Westland Otira vitally needed the capacity to help themselves in the event of a natural disaster. Working together, the Otira Responsible Community Association, West Coast Civil Defence and Westland District Council have installed a new Civil Defence container in the town. Over the coming months, the container will be supplied with the equipment necessary for the people in the town to support themselves in the event of an emergency. This follows on from similar containers installed in South Westland over the last few years.
Corporate services are the business arm of Council and provide customer services to external customers and the organisation.
Staff in the Corporate Services team ensure that Council has sound financial and legal practices (including statutory reporting and public engagement), staff and the public receive quality advice, there are efficient and current IT systems and Information Management practices and our customers have a good experience in our Customer Service centre. Council’s communications also sit within this group.
The main reason Communities 4 Local Democracy is advocating to keep a level of control over our water assets is that we feel they are incredibly important to the long-term development and health of our communities.
We also think it’s unfair that billions of dollars of assets can be removed from effective ownership and control of communities without any compensation or even acknowledgement. We think it creates a worrying precedent.
Control and influence is important to us, and we feel it’s absolutely critical for rural and provincial councils such as ours.
At the moment councils get to act in a self-interested manner for their communities, that’s one of the best things about local councils, while often collaborate with our neighbours our focus is on the people in our rohe.
Building good infrastructure is a massive driver of economic development, which is hugely important for smaller communities. Under the new mega-corporate model we’ll just be one of the thousands of communities all competing for a share of capital investment.
If history shows us anything it’s that when these investment decisions are made, from everything from roading to civil service jobs, it tends to gravitate towards the major cities.
We don’t see how water is going to be any different, particularly when the promised savings demand significant cost efficiencies from the new bodies.
This feeds into another one of our concerns is that both the scale of the required works has been massively overstated, and the efficiencies available to the new companies are unrealistic.
Councils already have around $90 billion of three waters investment planned out in their long term plans. This is in line with findings from the infrastructure commission and we’re confident that this would meet the current and future needs of communities.
We just don’t believe the headline number that the Water Commission of Scotland came up with, and our independent analysis has suggested it is based on faulty assumptions and flawed analysis.
While there’s been lots of fire and fury in public meetings and the media the public as a whole hasn’t had much of a chance to have their say.
The only chance to do this is at the select committee process and we’d really urge our communities to ensure they have their say on this topic.
Submissions are now open on Parliament’s website.
For guidance on how to demand better water reform, visit demandbetter.nz to see what councils are proposing, and how you can demand better three waters reform from the Government.
Text and image – Communities 4 Local Democracy
