Wellington City Council

Wellington City Council
Type
Type	City council of Wellington City
Leadership
Mayor	Andy Foster
Deputy Mayor	Sarah Free
Structure
Seats	15[a]
Political groups	Labour (3)   Green (3)   Wellington Party (1)   Independent (8)
Elections
Voting system	STV
Last election	12 October 2019
Next election	2022
Meeting place
Ngake, Level 16, 113 The Terrace, Wellington[1]
Website
wellington.govt.nz/
Footnotes
^ Includes Mayor

Satellite photo of central Wellington (south at bottom left)

Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and de facto second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and often the Kapiti Coast, are taken into account; these, however have independent councils rather than a supercity governance like Auckland, and so Wellington City is legally only third-largest city by population, behind Auckland and Christchurch). It consists of the central historic town and certain additional areas within the Wellington metropolitan area, extending as far north as Linden and covering rural areas such as Mākara and Ohariu. The city adjoins Porirua in the north and Hutt City in the north-east. It is one of nine territorial authorities in the Wellington Region.

Wellington attained city status in 1886. The settlement had become the colonial capital and seat of government by 1865, replacing Auckland. Parliament officially sat in Wellington for the first time on 26 July 1865. During the last half of the nineteenth century, Wellington grew rapidly from 7,460 residents in 1867 to 49,344 by the end of the century.^[2]

The council represents a population of 216,200 as of June 2020^[3] and consists of a mayor and fourteen councillors elected from five wards (Northern, Onslow-Western, Lambton, Eastern, Southern).^{[n 1][4]} It administers public works, sanitation, land use and building consents, among other local services. The council has used the marketing slogan "Absolutely Positively Wellington" in an official capacity since the early 1990s.^[5]

Council and committees[]

The Mayor and all Councillors are members of Council. Following a review in 2021 by former Local Government New Zealand chief executive Peter Winder, the Council adopted a new committee structure.^[6] All committees apart from Te Kaunihera o Pōneke Council and Ngutu Taki CEO Performance Review Committee include two mana whenua representatives, who are paid and have voting rights.^[7]

Wellington's local electoral wards were given Māori names in 2018, after consultation with mana whenua.^[8]

Mayor[]

One mayor is elected at large from the entire Wellington City district.

Eastern Ward[]

Motukairangi Eastern Ward returns three councillors to the Wellington City Council.

Lambton Ward[]

Pukehīnau Lambton Ward returns three councillors to the Wellington City Council.

Northern Ward[]

Takapū Northern Ward returns three councillors to the Wellington City Council.

Onslow-Western Ward[]

Wharangi Onslow-Western Ward returns three councillors to the Wellington City Council.

Southern Ward[]

Paekawakawa Southern Ward is the only ward that returns two councillors to the Wellington City Council (all others returning three).

Coat of arms[]

Wellington coat of arms

The City of Wellington has a coat of arms. The blazon is;

• Arms: Quarterly Gules and Azure, a Cross Or between; In the first quarter a Fleece Or; in the second quarter on Water barry wavy proper in base a Lymphad sail furled pennon and flags flying Argent; in the third quarter a Garb Or; in the fourth quarter five Plates in Saltire Argent.
• Crest: On a Mural Crown Argent a Dolphin Naiant Azure, Mantled Gules.
• Supporters: On the dexter side a Lion gorged with a Collar and Chain reflexed over the back Or, and on the sinister side a Moa proper.
• Motto: Suprema a Situ.

Translation of the blazon:

The shield is divided vertically and horizontally, quarter of which the first and fourth are red and the remaining pair are blue. A golden cross is placed over the entire shield centrally between these quarters. The top left quarter contains a golden fleece (usually depicted as a whole sheep with a band around its middle). The second quarter is depicted as a silver sailing ship (lymphad) with its sails furled as it would be in port but with its flags flying, placed on waves in their natural colour. The third quarter contains a golden wheat sheaf, and the fourth has five silver discs arranged in a saltire.

The mural crown (a crown depicted as if made of stonewalling) is common as a crest in city coats of arms. It is coloured silver, and from its top comes a swimming dolphin. Around the crest is mantling in red. The supporters on either side of the shield are a golden heraldic lion with a chained collar around its neck to the left, and a moa in its natural colouring on the right (the terms "sinister" and "dexter" relate to the shield from the holder's point of view, not the viewer's, thus dexter is the viewer's left and sinister is the viewer's right). The base on which the supporters stand is normally not emblazoned but is left to the artist to decide. The Motto may be translated as "Supreme by position".

Demographics[]

Wellington City had a population of 202,737 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 11,781 people (6.2%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 23,271 people (13.0%) since the 2006 census. There were 74,841 households. There were 98,823 males and 103,911 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.95 males per female. The median age was 34.1 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 32,856 people (16.2%) aged under 15 years, 54,999 (27.1%) aged 15 to 29, 93,669 (46.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 21,213 (10.5%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 74.1% European/Pākehā, 8.6% Māori, 5.1% Pacific peoples, 18.3% Asian, and 4.5% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities).

The proportion of people born overseas was 33.4%, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people objected to giving their religion, 53.2% had no religion, 31.4% were Christian, 3.7% were Hindu, 1.6% were Muslim, 1.7% were Buddhist and 3.3% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 74,922 (44.1%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 12,690 (7.5%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $41,800, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 96,453 (56.8%) people were employed full-time, 24,738 (14.6%) were part-time, and 7,719 (4.5%) were unemployed.^[10]

Suburbs[]

Wellington city has 57 officially defined suburbs; one can group them by the wards used to elect the City Council. Some areas, while officially forming part of a larger suburb (or several suburbs), are considered by some to be separate communities. The officially defined suburbs include:

Official suburbs of Wellington: the darker tone indicate built-up areas, the lighter parkland, green belt or rural areas.

Northern Ward[]

• official: Churton Park; Glenside; Grenada North; Grenada Village; Horokiwi; Johnsonville; Newlands; Ohariu; Paparangi; Takapu Valley; Tawa; Woodridge
• informal: ; Linden; Redwood

Onslow-Western Ward[]

• official: Broadmeadows; Crofton Downs; Kaiwharawhara; Karori; Khandallah; Mākara; Mākara Beach; Ngaio; Ngauranga; Northland; Wadestown; Wilton.
• informal: ; ; ; ; Te Kainga

Lambton Ward[]

• official: Aro Valley; ; Kelburn; Mount Cook; Mount Victoria; Oriental Bay; Pipitea; Te Aro; Thorndon; Wellington

Southern Ward[]

• official: Berhampore; Brooklyn; Island Bay; Kingston; Mornington; Newtown; Ōwhiro Bay; Southgate; Vogeltown
• informal:

Eastern Ward[]

• official: Breaker Bay; Hataitai; Houghton Bay; Karaka Bays; Kilbirnie; Lyall Bay; Maupuia; Melrose; Miramar; ; Rongotai; Roseneath; Seatoun; Strathmore Park
• informal: ; ; ; ; .

Communities of common interest[]

Courtenay Place; Courtenay Quarter; Cuba Quarter; ;

Positively Wellington Tourism, funded by the Wellington City Council, has designated the four inner-city "quarters" as marketing subdivisions to promote international and domestic tourism.

Educational facilities[]

Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn campus

Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington's oldest university, has its main campus in the hill suburb of Kelburn overlooking the centre of the city. It also has two downtown campuses and in the 2000s briefly had one in the western suburb of Karori after absorbing the former Wellington College of Education there. It originated as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The Senate of the University of New Zealand operated in Wellington until its dissolution in 1961.

A branch of Massey University is located in Wellington: it took over the site and some of the courses of the former Wellington Polytechnic. The campus is based at the former Dominion Museum, which has moved to Te Papa. The University of Otago also has a Wellington connection, as the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences is a department of that university.

Wellington Institute of Technology serves Wellington and the neighbouring Hutt Valley. One of the largest polytechnics in the region, it dates from 1904.

Numerous primary and secondary educational institutions operate throughout the city, see List of schools in Wellington, New Zealand.

Wellington has a number of museums and galleries, including Te Papa, the City Gallery and the Museum of Wellington City & Sea. The runs the latter two, and other museums.

Sister-city relationships[]

Sister cities^[11]

• Sydney, Australia
• Canberra, Australia^[12]
• Beijing, People's Republic of China
• Xiamen, Fujian, People's Republic of China
• Sakai, Osaka, Japan

Historical sister cities^[13]

• Harrogate, England, United Kingdom
• Hania, Crete, Greece
• Çanakkale, Turkey

Friendly cities^[14]

• Tianjin, People's Republic of China

History[]

The City of Wellington has subsumed independent boroughs including:

• Melrose (established 1888) in 1903
• Onslow (Khandallah/Ngaio) (established 1890) in 1919 (Wadestown had joined the city in 1906)
• Karori (established 1891) in 1920
• Miramar (established 1904) in 1921
• Johnsonville (a Town Board from 1908), in 1953
• Tawa (a Town district from 1951, then the Tawa Flat Borough Council from 1953) in 1989

Buildings[]

Wellington Town Hall, incorporating the Mayor's Office and Council Chambers

The Wellington City Council owns and until May 2019 operated from a complex on Wakefield Street, with various extensions each representing a distinctive architectural period. The complex incorporates the Wellington Town Hall which opened in 1904, with the most recent extension completed in 1991 alongside the Wellington Central Library.

The Wakefield Street complex has been cleared of back office functions, and since 28 May 2019 will be closed completely for repairs and earthquake strengthening. In the interim, most of the council's central office staff are located in commercial premises at 113 The Terrace, and the council's public service centre is at 12 Manners Street. Due to repairs also being needed to the Wellington Central Library, and Capital E, all of the civic buildings on Civic Square are closed, except for the City Gallery.

Use of pseudoscience[]

In December 2019, at the New Zealand Skeptics annual conference, the Wellington City Council and the Downer Group were co-awarded the Bent Spoon by NZ Skeptics for "showing the most egregious gullibility in 2019" for the contractor's use of water divining to find underground pipes.^[15]

See also[]

• Wellington Region

References[]

Footnotes

Citations

• A Complete Guide To Heraldry by A.C. Fox-Davies 1909.

External links[]

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Wellington City.

• WellingtonNZ.com
• Wellington City Council
• Wellington City Council maps

Coordinates: 41°17′44″S 174°46′50″E / 41.29556°S 174.78056°E / -41.29556; 174.78056