Are Wellington's council leaders running for the top jobs again this year?

• 2025 is an election year for councils around the country
• Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau says, in hindsight, she would have done a term as a councillor before running for the city's top job
• Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry is yet to make a decision on if he will run for re-election this year

The capital's mayor says, in hindsight, she would have done a term as a councillor before running for the city's top job, as RNZ speaks to Wellington's leaders about the year ahead.

Elected officials around the country will return to their respective council tables as their last year before local elections gets underway.

In Wellington it is set to be a big nine months before election day on 11 October for council leaders.

RNZ asked the mayors of the region's four cities, and the regional council chairperson, what their priorities are for this year.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau

Tory Whanau has had a difficult first term leading the capital with the mayor's personal issues aired out in public and difficulties getting some of her key policies completed.

Some of those included when the city council decided to pull out of the $32 million Reading Cinemas deal and councillors deciding not to sell its 34 percent stake in the airport which caused the need for a rewrite of their long term plan.

The long term plan change triggered government scrutiny which led to the appointment of a Crown observer to the council in November.

Whanau told RNZ it was a challenge being mayor and being completely fresh to local government.

"In hindsight perhaps I would have done a term as a councillor before becoming the mayor."

One of her key policies still underway despite attempts by councillors to stop it is the Golden Mile upgrade.

The $140 million former Let's Get Wellington Moving project will see private cars banned between Lambton Quay and Courtenay Place and provide improvements for cycling and wider footpaths.

Construction on the Courtenay Place element of the project will begin this year.

Whanau told RNZ that a construction date would be released soon.

"We should have an announcement come through in the next two weeks."

While she said the city was in a transition period, she said over the coming year big projects that had been under construction for a long time would open.

Those included the earthquake strengthened Wellington Central Library and the Town Hall in 2027.

Whanau said for the rest of this council term her priorities would be making sure policies such as investment in water pipes and affordable council housing stay in the long term plan through its amendment process.

She said investments in water, transport, climate change initiatives and housing would be the focus of her re-election campaign which she said she was committed to.

Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry

Campbell Barry is in his second term as Lower Hutt's mayor but is unsure if he will run for re-election this year.

"I always look at Christmas as a good time to reflect on what the plan is for the year ahead, over Christmas I sort of decided what's the rush.

"I'll give myself untill sort of a little bit later into the year, maybe post Easter."

Barry told RNZ that his major focus this year was to get Riverlink, the $700 million transport and flood protection project, underway.

"So getting the alliance agreement signed between Waka Kotahi, the regional council and Hutt City Council.

"I think we are right on the cusp of that, there's still a little bit more work to do but once that is signed then the major infrastructure work can get underway."

Last year it was reported that following a review of project affordability and cost-efficiency, Hutt City Council pulled out of an alliance delivery model with AECOM and Fletcher Construction.

He said he wanted to secure the future of a new walking bridge over the Hutt River between Melling Station and the CBD.

Barry told RNZ that he also would have focus this year on a long term solution on the odour at the Seaview Treatment Plant and the government's local water done well reforms.

Greater Wellington Regional Council chairperson Daran Ponter

Daran Ponter has been the head of the regional council since the 2019 local body election.

The council oversees much of the region's parks, its marine environment, transport and is the main shareholder in Centreport -- the company that runs Wellington's port.

He had fronted several issues over the past three years including the issues relating to safety issues on the Cook Strait, problems on the Wellington rail line and the future of Wellington's port.

Ponter told RNZ the main priorities for him this year was signing off on the contracts for the new regional hybrid trains that will run on routes from the capital to Palmerston North and Masterton before the end of this decade.

He said one of his top issues was the expansion of the bus network while fare prices were kept under control after pressure from NZTA.

The agency had asked transport authorities to increase their private share - the proportion of the total cost of providing public transport that comes from things other than rates or government funding.

"We certainly have a very different view from the government on that and so there's a fight on if you like, to make sure that public transport rates are kept in and around the same rates that they currently are."

Ponter said he and other regional leaders had a "free and frank" discussion with the former Transport Minister Simeon Brown before Christmas where they outlined their position.

"The minister I think received our views well, we would prefer that NZTA sort of backed away from this sort of idea."

He said his other major focus would be on keeping a lid on rates increases after both their council and others in the region had seen large rate rises.

It was announced last year that regional council rates were set to go up 20.55 percent in 2025.

Ponter said he was planning to run again largely due to the maturity of the regional council organisation and its councillors.

"I would have to say if it wasn't for that I might be looking to throw the towel in, but I have felt well supported over the last six years and I'm up for another three years if my compatriot councillors will have me."

He said transport would be a focus for a re-election campaign with the national ticketing solution which will allow people to pay for public transport fares with their card or phone by the end of 2026.

He wanted to also grow the transport network whilst keeping rates as low as possible.

Porirua Mayor Anita Baker

Anita Baker has been leading the city of Porirua for two council terms and had been a staunch advocate for the need of water reforms in the region.

Baker told RNZ her priority for the upcoming year was lots of consultation.

"We are out for our keeping of animals bylaw, our freedom camping bylaw, our local alcohol policy and then of course we have our annual plan and our water."

She said an exciting development this year would be finishing their central wastewater storage facility in either September or October.

The storage tank will stop sewage from overflowing into the harbour when heavy rain overwhelms pump stations.

Baker said on the topic of the local water done well water reforms she was looking forward to working on it this year though she said it was a shame they were working on another set of reforms.

"The three waters was actually a better proposition at the time and better for us and we just seem to push things out.

"We keep getting more and more costs put on us and it's taking longer but we just have to suck it up as a council."

She said her biggest challenge over the past few years was keeping rates as low as possible for the community.

"People have lost their jobs, incomes aren't high, the costs that come from us from government, the different things we have to do around rubbish and recycling and different policies, we don't get funded."

Baker said she would run for re-election with a focus on working with the rest of the region to get alignment on by laws, waste, and district plans.

She would also like to work ensuring rates were affordable and driving housing growth.

Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy

Wayne Guppy is in his eighth term in Upper Hutt's top job having first getting the job in 2001.

Guppy told RNZ his focus was on the government water reforms, leading subdivisions in Silverstream and northern part of the city and finalising the opening of the $55 million H20 Xtream upgrade.

In the past he had been a big critic of Wellington Water, so he believed getting the upcoming reforms right was important.

"The one thing that we need to make sure of in Wellington is that we certainly just don't get version two of Wellington Water."

Guppy said a changed governance structure under the reforms would provide a lot more confidence for him.

He told RNZ the focus for the region for the next year and beyond needed to be regaining the positivity for Wellington.

"Wellington's taken a bit of a battering for a number of reasons, and the rest of the country's jumped on it."

Guppy said the region needed to work hard to ensure that it was seen as a great place to live.

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