Mayor's Message

There has been a power of good work done by Council this year. The top priority has been fixing the damage from the August 2022 storm. We have repaired Cable Bay Road, built the new bridge over the Maitai River at the golf course, fixed nine of the 18 major landslides and settled all but one of the unfixable properties. We’ve locked in $12.3 million of Government support for the repairs and secured another $9 million for upgrading stop banks and stormwater.

We also got the Elma Turner Library strengthened and reopened. We’ve completed tens of millions in stormwater and roading improvements at Saxton, Rutherford Street, St Vincent Street and the Victory roundabout. We completed the lighting on the Railway Reserve and built 13 new eBus shelters.

Environmental initiatives we have taken this year include installing aerators in the Maitai Dam reservoir to improve water quality, removing the contaminated sawdust at Tāhunanui Beach and helping trial soft plastic recycling. We are progressing a new cat bylaw and made the big decision to phase-out commercial forestry on Council land.

We have added life to the city by supporting events such as the Adam Chamber Music Festival, Italian Festival, Seafood Saturday, NZ MTB Rally, Tuku 24, Matariki, the 30th Nelson Arts Festival and the upcoming Spectacle event and Black Caps cricket. The Revitalisation Summit in March has helped drive initiatives such as bringing Connings into the central city, the Bridge to Better Project, the Spring Clean and purchasing the Customhouse to enable redevelopment of our waterfront.

I wish to thank all those who help make Nelson such a great place to live, particularly the thousands who volunteer to help make us a caring, sporty, creative and environmentally conscious city. I am also grateful to our businesspeople who work hard to keep our economy going in these tough times.

I am encouraged that the 2024 Annual Residents’ Survey shows overall satisfaction with Council has increased to 60% (the best result in NZ), up from 54% in 2023 and 51% in 2022. We are committed as a Council team, both elected members and staff, to continue to improve the services we provide for this city we love.
My priority for the New Year, with the storm fix work now largely done, is economic recovery and city revitalisation.

Best wishes for Christmas, the holiday break and 2025.

Mayor Nick Smith