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Governance Strategy
Delivering confidence in civic decision-making
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Context
3. Long-term direction
4. Three-year priorities
5. Strategy tree
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1. Introduction
Wellington City Council is a facilitator and guardian of civic decision-making, a role that puts the
Council in a unique position in the local community.
Wellington’s society and economy are growing and changing. To ensure that change in the city is
perceived positively by its citizens, it is important that there is a high degree of public participation,
and trust and confidence in the city’s decision-making processes.
The need to attract more skilled labour in order to grow the Wellington economy underscores the
importance of successfully functioning local government. Research suggests that while central
government will continue to play an important role in setting frameworks in areas such as tax policy
and education, the crucial choices that influence people’s decisions about whether to come, remain
or return will increasingly be made at a regional or local level.
The Local Government New Zealand Know-How guide defines governance as:
“The means for collective action in society, responding and guiding change that is beyond
the capacity of private action. …It enables values to be realised. …Governance involves
the notion of a collective voice, an avenue for resolving questions of competing priorities
and determining the public interest.”
The Council recognises the need to increase the numbers of citizens who are meaningfully
engaged in democratic processes and has prepared this Governance Strategy to address the long-
term need to make the city more inclusive and its citizens more actively engaged in the civic
decision-making process.
Through its wide-ranging activities, the Council will play a key role in promoting robust decision-
making. These are summarised in the Governance Strategy Tree below.
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2. Context
Existing Framework
The context
Wellington City Council facilitates local democratic processes in a number of ways. From elections
through to decision-making made by Council and its committees and community boards, citizens’
rights are maintained, and the community is brought together to work for the common good.
Council operates along a continuum in the way that the community is involved in decisions as
illustrated below:
Inform
Consult
Involve
Collaborate
Empower
To provide the public with
balanced and objective
information to assist them
in understanding the
problem, alternatives or
solutions
To obtain public feedback
on analysis, alternatives
or decisions
To work directly with the
public throughout the
process to ensure the
public and private
concerns are consistently
understood and
considered.
To partner with the public
in each aspect of the
decision including the
development of
alternatives and the
identification of the
preferred solution.
To place final decision-
making in the hands of
the public
A fundamental aspect to Council’s governance role is its relationship with tangata whenua. This
involves difficult constitutional and democratic principles. The current focus at Council is on direct
Governance
Strategy
Policies
•
Significance
•
Partnerships with
the private sector
•
Triennial
Agreement
•
Consultation
•
Representation
Review
•
Committee
structure /
Standing Orders /
Code of Conduct
Plans
•
Communication &
Participation
Project
Other
•
MoUs with
Tenths Trust &
Ngati Toa
•
Mayoral & other
fora
•
CWIC partners
framework
•
Wellington
Regional Strategy
Delivery
•
Pacific & Ethnic
fora
•
Committee
structure and
Standing Orders
•
Council advisory
groups
•
Elections
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strategic relationships with iwi, and the use of focus groups to address issues of concern to the
wider Maori community.
Council must also address its role as a repository of community and citizen information. It has
direct access to property, planning and land use information, and acts as a focal point for
information on the social, cultural, environmental and economic wellbeing of communities. Easy,
appropriate access to information and services is therefore important.
At the same time, Council must attempt to address wider societal changes, including:
• a decline in the trust placed in institutions by individuals
• time pressures in modern society, which make it difficult to participate
• dissatisfaction with consultation processes from some people
• greater accountability and transparency for public bodies, and increasing expectations of
service levels
• the strong influence of the media on public perceptions of institutions, and
• greater quality of information, including auditing of financial information, not necessarily
enhancing levels of trust and confidence.
Dissatisfaction does not equate to a complete lack of confidence in the system. Maintaining the
option for citizens to exercise their democratic voice remains critically important, even if they rarely
exercise it.
The challenge
The challenge is to develop and implement a governance strategy that addresses fundamental
issues in the democratic decision-making system, focusing on building levels of trust and
confidence. Clearly, trust can be hard to gain and is easily eroded, but its central importance
makes it a vital objective for the governance area.
The solution
A governance strategy that builds confidence and trust
in civic decision-making
The term “civic” decision-making (rather than “local”) is used because of the objective of involving
citizens more in the future direction of their city.
The pre-conditions
The successful realisation of this strategy will require:
• Long-term commitment to making the decision-making process work better
• Further strengthening of collaborative relationships with other councils and government
agencies
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3. Long-term direction for governance
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From Community Outcomes to Council Outcomes
Community Outcomes
The Treaty partnership will continue to be acknowledged in
all local decision-making processes.
Wellington will have a culture of open and honest, no
surprises consultation involving all age groups that is
genuine, timely and well informed.
Wellington’s governing bodies will comply with all legislative
requirements, and will behave in an ethical and fair manner.
Information required by citizens and groups will be easily
accessible, to enable participation in the community.
Wellington’s media will be diverse, open and accessible to all
people.
Wellingtonians will be actively involved in their communities
and work with others to make things happen.
Wellington, as New Zealand’s capital city, will house and
engage effectively with central government, embassies and
corporates.
Proposed Wellington City Council
Outcomes
7.1 More inclusive:
Wellingtonians will be more actively
involved in the future direction of their
communities.
7.2 More actively engaged:
Wellingtonians will recognise the special
position of Maori in the history of this place
and this will be evident in current
relationships.
7.3 More actively engaged:
Wellington will operate an open and honest
decision-making process that generates
confidence and trust in the democratic
system.
7.4 More actively engaged:
Information required by citizens and groups
will be easily accessible, to enable
participation in the community.
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Our long-term outcomes
Over the next 10 years, we aspire to the following outcomes:
7.1 More Inclusive: Wellingtonians will be more actively involved in the future direction of their
communities.
Democracy is a way of making decisions for the community but it is also instrumental in involving people in
the future direction of their community. Fostering civic engagement leads to better decisions and a sense of
belonging. It also builds self-reliance and moves away from an emphasis on expecting public bodies to
resolve issues.
Developing more active involvement will mean:
• supporting community groups and organizations, and
• lifting levels of participation
7.2 More actively engaged: Wellingtonians will recognise the special position of Maori in the
history of this place and this will be evident in current relationships.
Wellington has a long history of occupation by iwi who enjoyed its natural harbour and plentiful food
supplies. This is part of Wellington’s rich history and is recognised in many ways including place names,
land ownership, public art and monuments.
The Treaty partnership relationship created by the Treaty of Waitangi and subsequent court decisions is
clearly between Maori and the Crown. This relationship distinguishes between iwi and the wider Maori
community. However, local government acts under a mandate from Parliament and is responsible for many
of the resource allocation and regulatory decisions, which are of direct interest to Maori, in a local area. This
results in a unique relationship between Council and Maori.
Improving Maori partnerships will mean:
• visible recognition of the historical relationship of Maori within the Wellington area
• operating under memoranda of understanding with the Wellington Tenths Trust and Ngati Toa
Rangatira
• opportunities for iwi to be involved in Council decision-making processes, and
• working with the wider Maori community on specific issues.
7.3 More actively engaged: Wellington will operate an open and honest decision-making process
that generates confidence and trust in the democratic system.
Democracy is a foundation for our society, and Council is uniquely placed to facilitate the decision-making
processes that support this on behalf of the community. Our system is ultimately representative democracy
but with a high level of participation in the process. Many people, having voted, clearly expect their
representatives to make decisions on their behalf. A critical aspect of democracy is having the option to
participate and make your views known, even if that option is not exercised. In this sense, the perception
and reality that this option remains open is hugely important.
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Developing an open and honest decision-making processes will mean:
• early participation of interested parties in decision-making
• developing a network of Council advisory groups
• more open and honest communication policies, and
• improving the levels of community engagement.
7.4 More actively engaged: Information required by citizens and groups will be easily accessible
to enable participation in the community
The Council accepts its responsibility to ensure that people have easy access to information about Council
business, and city events and attractions. The Council provides a number of public services to facilitate the
flow of information. These include the City Service Centre in the main foyer of the Council buildings in
Wakefield Street, and our call centre, which fields calls about all Council business. We also provide the
public with the information on property values and access to the vast amount of historical information found
in the Wellington City Archives.
Better access to information will mean:
• maintaining high quality information databases
• being highly responsive to enquiries, and
• providing easy access to information.
4. Our three year priorities
For the period 2006-09, we’ve identified the following three priorities for our governance work. These priorities are
important stepping stones towards our long-term goals.
• We will improve the transparency and quality of processes for public involvement in civic decision-making
• We will improve communication with communities
• We will increase participation rates in democratic processes.
How we plan to achieve these priorities
We already play a vital role in facilitating local decision-making and keeping residents informed. Our work includes:
holding local elections every three years; running Council meetings; providing elected councillors with information,
advice and support to help them in their decision-making; developing strategies and plans to shape the city’s future
direction; consulting residents and stakeholders to ensure councillors are informed about community views before they
make decisions; seeking input from local iwi and other partners; informing residents (through our website, Contact
Centre, newspapers and other publications); reporting on our financial and service performance; and dealing with
residents’ queries and concerns.
We’re considering several options to encourage more people to vote in local elections. This includes steps that will
make it easier to vote, and initiatives that will raise the profile of local elections.
We’re also working on ways to increase our levels of engagement with the people of Wellington, and make it easier for
residents to have a say before councillors make decisions. As a first step, in the coming year we plan to publish simple
“Have your say” guidelines explaining how to take part in city decision-making. We’re also reviewing our Consultation
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Policy and considering other initiatives such as setting up community panels to give feedback on issues facing the city,
and increasing opportunities for people to provide comment through our website or e-petitions.
We’re also looking to support central government’s civic education initiatives which will help school students learn
about local government and how they can influence decisions.
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5. Strategy Tree - Governance