Council sells Energy Direct NZ
to TrustPower

The Council has sold energy trading company Energy Direct NZ Ltd for $13.65M to TrustPower Ltd. Mayor Annette Main is pictured signing the deal with Wanganui District Council Holdings Chair Matthew Doyle (left) and Chris O'Hara and Craig Neustroski of TrustPower.

TrustPower will retain EDNZ's St Hill Street base and staff in Wanganui for at least two years. The deal does not include GasNet, which looks after the gas pipeline infrastructure. Read more here...

Celebrate our unsung heroes
2013 Volunteer (Kaituao) Awards

Wanganui District Council is partnering with Volunteer Whanganui to host the 2013 Volunteer (Kaituao) Awards and we are now seeking nominations. Read more here...

The three categories within the Volunteer Whanganui Awards are for Individual, Youth Individual and Team. The nomination pack is available here (PDF, 2.27MB) or pick up a copy from Volunteer Whanganui, our Customer Services team at 101 Guyton Street, the Davis Library or Gonville Cafe Library.

Nominations close on 31 May 2013.

Wastewater treatment plant
and odour issues

We have received a report on long-term options to fix the wastewater treatment plant and resolve the associated odour issues. The background and decisions made by the Council on 29 April 2013 are available here...

This page, which is regularly updated, provides information about what's happening and the work we are doing to resolve the problems.

FAQs about the treatment plant (PDF, 65KB)

Shaping Wanganui –
Online District Plan maps upgrade

Check out the new and improved Online District Plan maps.

Our Planning and GIS staff have worked together to produce a new user-friendly front end for the Council’s planning and mapping information.

All the commonly used planning information including printable maps, zoning information, heritage buildings and aerial photography is now in one place. With clear, predictive road and address search functions, you can find information about your property at the click of a mouse.

Searching for information on your property and other points of interest has never been easier. Search here

Wanganui part of Intelligent Communities Smart 21

Planned works

Information on some of the works planned for Wanganui District infrastructure, parks and facilities this month is available on this page.

E-waste recycling service open on Saturdays

We have a new user pays electronic waste (e-waste) recycling service at the Peat Street Recycling Centre. The e-waste service is available every Saturday.

Examples of e-waste include computers, computer screens, fax machines and old TVs. It is one of the fastest growing categories of hazardous waste in the world.

Read more here...

Items accepted for e-waste recycling and cost (PDF, 88KB)

Whanganui River settlement

On August 30, the Crown and negotiators for Whanganui Iwi signed a framework agreement setting out certain key elements that will form the basis for a settlement of Whanganui Iwi’s historical claims relating to the Whanganui River.

Read about the settlement on this page.

Would you prefer to receive your rates notice by email in future? You can apply to have your rates notice sent to you by email instead of by post and go into the draw for a $500 contribution toward your rates. Find out more on this page.

How well do you know the Wanganui district? What is our population? Is our population aging or are we getting younger? Are we more or less multi-cultural than the NZ average?

Council’s new community profile tool has been developed by specialist demographics company .id (Informed Decisions) and delivers a comprehensive demographic profile of the Wanganui district based on 1996, 2001 and 2006 NZ Census data.

Access the community profile tool here...

Earthquake-prone buildings

Wanganui District Council is working through a process to identify potentially earthquake-prone buildings (EQPB) and notify the owners of those buildings about their responsibilities. Read more...

Following detailed assessments of our buildings, we have placed notices on Council-owned earthquake-prone buildings to advise the public of the EQPB assessment. Read more...

We are currently considering options for the affected buildings and discussing them with the occupants before the Council makes any decisions about potential interim measures or medium to long term solutions. It is important to note that the ratings apply to a very specific risk (earthquakes) and the buildings are not dangerous under normal conditions.

Detailed analysis outcomes of council-owned buildings (PDF, 9KB)
Earthquake-prone buildings process and timetable (PDF, 20KB)
Information about earthquake risk in Wanganui (PDF, 83KB)
Information for building owners (PDF, 47KB)
Earthquake-prone Buildings Policy (PDF, 35KB)
Earthquake-prone Buildings Community Taskforce - Brochure for building owners (PDF, 690KB)

Work is progressing on building the $35M ultrafast broadband network in Wanganui, which will take around five years to complete.

Wanganui Digital Leaders Forum is working to ensure that everyone in the Wanganui district will be able to take full advantage of the benefits ultrafast broadband offers.

Read more about the ultrafast broadband project here

Wanganui Digital Leaders Forum Business Focus Group Event
View a video from the event held on November 15.

View the deployment map for Wanganui until June 2013.