Mayor's Message
A good start to the year.
My priorities this year are helping Nelson’s economic recovery, improving our city’s infrastructure, getting more affordable and social housing built and growing Nelson’s reputation for our arts, nature and recreational opportunities.
The year has gotten off to a good start with the highest number of summer visitors in years. Tourism is one of our most important industries, but it has been struggling since Covid. It was a bonus to have the Minister of Tourism holidaying here. Retail spend in Nelson-Tasman over summer has also recovered.
Council plays a key role in supporting events that bring visitors to the region. Our city successfully hosted the South Island Colgate Games this month, bringing more than 2000 visitors to the city. This week, starting tomorrow, we host the biennial Adam International Chamber Music Festival with renown musicians from all over the world preforming over the next 10 days. We also have the Italian Festival on 1 March, the Fringe Festival from 5-14 March, the Vero International Festival of Historic Motoring from 15-21 March and then Marchfest on 28 March.
A key aspect of our economic recovery plan is to grow our marine engineering businesses. We are on track to commission the two new straddle lifts – the 550-tonne lift at Port Nelson in April and the 110-tonne lift at Nelson Marina in July. These have also involved huge investments in the hardstands and adjacent infrastructure that doubles the space available for boat building and maintenance.
This investment is to be supported by the establishment of a new Blue House venture in Vickerman Street, made possible by a three-way partnership between Westpac NZ, Kernohan Engineering and Council’s Economic Development Agency announced in December. It will be opened in March to support the growth of our region’s seafood, aquaculture and marine engineering sectors.My optimism is also due to the scale of investment that the Government, Council and private sector have committed to build in Nelson this year in areas such as housing, infrastructure and the hospital redevelopment. I am also encouraged that business confidence nationally has rebounded to the highest level in a decade and that exports over the past year have grown $8 billion to a record $105 billion.
The newly elected Council begins the year with a Strategy Day tomorrow at Plant & Food Research followed the next day by a joint meeting with our Tasman District Council neighbours. We are committed to working together to help make 2026 a successful year for the region.
