What does Council do?
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Governance structure
Upper Hutt City Council is the Local Government Authority in Upper Hutt. It is governed by a group of Elected Members who are individuals in the community that are elected by the public to make decisions on behalf of the Upper Hutt Community.
The Elected Members are comprised of the Mayor and ten Councillors.
Separate to the Council are the Council officers, or staff. The officers are responsible for helping to both inform the Elected Members to aid their decision making, and complete work and projects as a result of the decisions made by the Elected Members. The officers are headed up by the Executive Leadership Team, which is comprised of the Chief Executive, and six Directors.
What is Council responsible for?
Local government is separate to Central government. While Central government tend to look after issues that affect the majority of New Zealanders, Local government looks after issues that affect local people.
Upper Hutt City Council is responsible for a wide range of activities in Upper Hutt:
Community Services teams: look after the libraries and all of the library programs, as well as H2O Xtream and Activation. The Community Development team also work to support the community and promote wellbeing.
Planning and Regulatory Services team: look after dog registrations and animal control, liquor licenses, food licenses and parking. They are also the team responsible for building, planning or resource consents.
Asset Management and Operations team: look after our water, waste, parks, roads, and our big projects, like the Maidstone Max revamp, or the Maidstone Sports Hub project.
Strategy, Partnerships and Growth team: look after our Iwi liaison, economic development, marketing and communications, and web development. This team also looks after our strategic policy, sustainability, democratic services and customer services.
Finance, Risk and Digital Solutions team: our internal facing team look after IT systems and our finance systems. This team also look after insurances, legal services and our internal projects.
Performance and Capability team: our internal facing team are responsible for human resources, health and safety, and recruitment.
Council and committee meetings
Decisions are made at Council and Committee Meetings, through a number of different committees. You can find out more about the Committees, their membership, structure, standing orders and how they work or contact the Democratic Services Officers at governance@uhcc.govt.nz or 04 528 2652. The Council meeting calendar is also available online.
As a members of the public, you are encouraged to attend public meetings to listen and/or share your views to help shape the decision making process. There is a public forum at the beginning of most public meetings – this is your opportunity to address the Councillors regarding items on the agenda. Find out more about speaking at a public meeting.
Decision making process
For big decisions that will affect the community, Council will engage with the Upper Hutt community before making a decision. The level of engagement required is determined by the UHCC Significance and Engagement Policy(PDF, 300KB) .
Every year, all Councils consult on either the Long Term Plan (LTP) or the Annual Plan. The LTP is Council’s 10 year plan that is reviewed every three years, and producing the LTP is the most critical piece of work that Council does. The Annual Plan is Council’s plan for the next 12 months.
