Wellington City Council

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]

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 (supreme by position).[18]

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".

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.[19]

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.

The Wellington City Council owns or directly operates several companies.

The Council is a part-owner of Wellington Airport, and has two representatives on the airport's board. Mayor Andy Foster has been a member of the board since 2016, but has been criticised for poor attendance at board meetings.[20]

The seven council-controlled organisations (CCOs) are[21]

• Basin Reserve Trust
• Karori Sanctuary Trust (ZEALANDIA)
• Wellington Cable Car Ltd
• Wellington Museums Trust (ExperienceWellington), which operates City Gallery Wellington and the Museum of Wellington City & Sea
• Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency Ltd (WREDA)
• Wellington Water manages all three water services for Hutt, Porirua, Upper Hutt and Wellington city councils, and South Wairarapa District councils.
• Wellington Zoo Trust

The Council has a similar interest in the Wellington Regional Stadium Trust.

Sister cities[22]

• Sydney, Australia
• Canberra, Australia[23]
• Beijing, People's Republic of China
• Xiamen, Fujian, People's Republic of China
• Sakai, Osaka, Japan

Historical sister cities[24]

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

Friendly cities[25]

• Tianjin, People's Republic of China

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

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.

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.[26]

• Wellington Region

Footnotes

Citations

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

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Wellington City.

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