Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) has published its draft Annual Plan 2025–2026 and community members can now provide feedback, although there will be no formal consultation this year.

Every three years the council adopts a Long Term Plan (LTP) and in the two intervening years it prepares and adopts an Annual Plan, which sets out spending priorities and determines rates for the year.

Normally there is also a public consultation period where members of the community can make submissions on the draft Annual Plan and - potentially - influence the final Annual Plan.

However, QLDC says this year there are no major changes requiring formal consultation.

Formal consultation wasn’t necessary because there was no change to the average rates increase of 13.5 percent signalled in the LTP, nor any change to the “level of service” provided by the council, QLDC corporate services general manager Meghan Miller said in February.

In addition to this, the LTP - which signalled three years of belt-tightening - was only approved in September last year, much later than usual, so full consultation was not necessary, she said.

QLDC chief executive Mike Theelen said understanding community sentiment is still an important part of the process and he encouraged members of the public to share feedback on the Annual Plan webpage.

“We encourage residents and ratepayers to take a few minutes to read the draft Annual Plan and let us know what they think,” Mike said.

“It’s a chance to stay informed about what’s happening locally and across the district as a whole and how council is delivering on the commitments made in the LTP.”

Read the draft Annual Plan and provide feedback and comments here.

Comments are open until May 30 and the community feedback will be provided to councillors and summarised for the June 2025 council meeting.

PHOTO: Wānaka App