Libraries to stay open says Wellington City Council after mistakenly earmarking them for closure

Friday, 9 February 2024

In an embarrassing admission, Wellington City Council says it uploaded the wrong version of its proposed long term plan and has no intention of shutting down libraries, despite the documents saying otherwise.

The documents uploaded on Thursday night listed a number of cost cutting measures including shutting down three city libraries - Arapaki, Brooklyn and Wadestown.

A council spokesman, Richard MacLean, later told The Post city council managers had “no intention” of closing any libraries, though a reduction in their hours was proposed.

He said the incorrect version of the long term plan had been posted on the website and the council was “in the process” of uploading the correct documents.

But it appears the blunder was not discovered until the closures were reported by media, including The Post.

Other proposals in the documents uploaded Thursday included grassing over the Khandallah Pool, the City to Sea bridge demolished and other cost cutting measures as the council looks for ways to keep rates increases below 20%.

There was also $1.7b of capital and operational spending allocated to Wellington’s failing water infrastructure.

It is not clear how much of the documentation uploaded to the website has since been overtaken. It appears to have been an earlier version of the proposed long term plan.

It put pools in the firing line, with staff noting that the average ratepayer subsidy per swim was $22.

The Khandallah Pool would be closed and grassed over. The main reason was the low visitation numbers and the $11.7m cost of the upgrade, which staff said would increase the ratepayer subsidy per swim to at least $60.

The proposal would also slash the Thorndon Pool season from 23 weeks to just 14 weeks – mid-November to mid-February.

At the same time the council proposed to close the Tawa pool on Fridays and slash its hours so that it would open from 11-7 from Monday to Thursday and to 5pm on weekends.

Before the council’s admission about incorrect documentation, councillor Ben McNulty had expressed surprise about the recommendation to close libraries and pools, which was not well-signalled in the briefing last week.

“The public would be forgiven for thinking some of these cuts are designed to fail,” he said.