Auckland Council’s draft Annual Plan for the 2025 – 2026 financial year is open for feedback! This is an opportunity to tell the Council that safe streets and transport options are important to you.
Have your say by Friday 28 March 2025, 11.59pm.
What is the Annual Plan?
The Annual Plan is a 1 year budget which the Council makes every year to show what they plan to invest in over the following financial year (1 July – 30 June). Usually, the 1 year budget is created from the budget priorities identified in the Long Term Plan (the budget for the next 10 years).
It’s important to let Auckland Council know what you want them to invest in.
This is an opportunity to tell the Council loud and clear that safe streets and transport options are important to you. You can do this by including into your feedback that you want more investment in safe cycleways, speed calming on residential streets, cycle skills training, and other cycling features such as pump tracks. If there are any particular projects you especially want to see funded for next financial year, make sure to mention them.
How to have your say
You can make your submission through the Auckland Council website ‘have your say’ form. In the comments sections it’s helpful to tell your personal “why”; why does it matter to you? Talking about why it matters to you in particular can be powerful in helping elected representatives to connect with what you are expressing and to understand your point of view.
The Auckland Council budget summaries are available in various languages here.
Read the Annual Plan consultation document!
Check out the supporting information
Ideas for feedback on this Annual Plan
While we recommend you write your submission in your own words and make sure to include what you care about most, we’ve provided some prompts below to help get you started. Please note that our focus is on transport. We suggest looking at other submission guides to get ideas on other areas that this budget will affect.
If you don’t have much time…
It’s okay to leave some parts blank – it’s better than not submitting at all. We recommend you give broad feedback in Q5, the ‘other feedback’ section of the submission form, and include a personal story about why it matters to you (eg. “I want my kids to have a safe route to cycle to school so I don’t have to be their taxi, and so that they get more physical activity into their days”).
Here are some ideas for what might be important to you regarding this budget.
“I want Auckland Council to… “
- Invest in and deliver more fast and affordable safe cycleways (eg. pop up bike lanes) and convenient public transport (eg. bus priority lanes). This can be done fast by reallocating road space (parking or extra lanes) and “building back better” during road renewals; giving all people safe options for getting around by any transport mode.
- Invest in and deliver **insert the projects you want to see delivered here**
eg. Te Whau pathway, Hobsonville Cycleway, Links to Glen Innes Cycleways, Māngere East and Manukau Preferred Cycling Networks, Albany Highway. Check out our Project Watch blogs for more ideas of what could be delivered across the region. - Ensure any money saved on cycling projects is reinvested into other cycling projects
- Invest in and progress on the City Centre Master Plan which includes improvements for walking, cycling, and accessibility in the city centre – including retaining the safe cycleway the length of Victoria street.
- Invest in walking and cycling over-bridges / safe tunnels to replace level crossings
- Invest in more bike skills courses across the region, so that more people can experience the joy and freedom of riding a bike – and to support more people to ride from A to B for their transport, reducing our emissions overall
- Invest more towards safe streets and delivering Vision Zero; including raised crossings, traffic calming, and retaining as many safe speeds as possible. Streets that are 30km/hr are safe for people to share, and become more pleasant for everyone.
- Invest more into climate action related programmes such as Live Lightly and the Climate Action Grant, both of which encourage more people to cycle, walk, and take public transport.
- Invest in convenient and regular public transport, including provision of secure bike parking (Perhaps Locky Docks?)and safe cycleway connections at public transport hubs. For some people using public transport and cycling together as a combo is crucial for their trips.
- Provide access for bikes on buses (on board or racks on the front or back of buses). For some people using public transport and cycling together as a combo is crucial for their trips.
It’s also a great opportunity to celebrate what has been delivered over the past year, and to give the Council positive feedback on what you have enjoyed. For instance: pop up protection has been making safer cycle routes around Manukau, Point Chevalier to Westmere is pretty much complete and ready to ride, Great North Road and Māngere West are both underway, we’re getting closer to having a safe cycleway the length of Victoria street, and Stage 4 of Te Ara Ki Uta Ki Tai (Glen Innes to Tāmaki) should be starting any day now. Auckland Council also pushed back at Central Government’s mandatory speed raising and made the best of a bad funding situation to ensure we kept a pipeline of cycleway delivery. Check out our Project Watch blogs to refresh your memory on what’s being delivered. Amidst the funding cuts there’s a lot to celebrate – and positive feedback will create more confidence for future bike-friendly decisions.
If you have more time…
Have a look at what your local board has planned and let them know you support safe cycle connections, pump tracks, and other cycle facilities for your area (eg. for Albert-Eden; “I support investment in a portable pump track which moves around the local board area, and I would love to see it come to x park so that my kids can easily have a go on it.”). You can also give feedback for other local board areas which you frequently visit, such as where your workplace is based.
Find information about what your local board intends to invest in for 2025 – 2026 through the links below:
Online webpage
In PDF form
We’ll be updating this guide with our thoughts on specific local boards priorities soon – watch this space.
Have your say by Friday 28 March 2025, 11.59pm.
