At the Committee meeting, Elected Members considered detailed analysis of the options and weighed that up against community concerns, as well as the best outcome for the city. They ultimately agreed to continue with the Council’s annual ‘fit-for-purpose' chipseal resurfacing programme, while providing an option for residents who prefer to keep their existing asphalt surface - at their own cost.
Approximately $9 million a year is spent on resurfacing 25-30km (4-5%) of Tauranga City’s 630km of local roading network. This essential road maintenance is partly funded (51%) by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA).
The 2025/26 programme runs from late-September through to the end of March (later for asphalt if warmer temperatures allow). This season will see around 20,000 tonnes of asphalt used to resurface nearly 8km of roads at 79 different locations, as well as chipseal applied to 20km of roads across more than 100 sites, including surfacing trials.
Meeting NZTA’s requirements for part-funding of the road resurfacing programme is essential in providing value for money for ratepayers and keeping rates affordable. In most locations, this means using chipseal rather than asphalt, because asphalt is approximately five times more expensive.
Mayor Mahé Drysdale says the decisions made this week and the split in voting on parts of the resolution reflect the weight of community feedback and the complexity of the issue.
“We received a significant amount of feedback from people concerned about plans to resurface some deteriorating asphalt streets with chipseal and were asked to look into alternatives. It was therefore important that we listened, acted and considered various options – which is what Tuesday’s meeting was about.
“After a robust debate in the Chamber for over two hours, we’ve made decisions that will help define a way forward for everyone. While the solutions might not be perfect, I believe this is the best we could do within the constraints we have.
“This is a complex issue, and we had to balance multiple factors such as affordability and equity across the city, value for money, technical considerations and community concerns.
“The existing ‘fit-for-purpose’ model was confirmed, as it delivers the best value option for all ratepayers. This was weighed against the concerns of residents of asphalt streets who felt they were getting an inferior product.”
Tauranga City Council’s Head of Transport Mike Seabourne says chipseal is a very good value for money option.
“Chipseal has been used for decades and is the most common surface in Tauranga and across New Zealand,” says Mike.
“Ultimately, asking everyone to pay to keep the existing asphalt surface on some residential streets would likely mean an increase of at least 2% in rates for every household, which we didn’t feel was an equitable outcome,” Mahé adds.
He acknowledges the hard work by Council staff, who prepared an additional report at pace and tested multiple options to ensure Elected Members had the best information available. This involved over 400 hours of staff time in the past few weeks.
“Addressing this matter requires technical expertise and careful financial modelling. Staff worked hard to provide clear advice under tight timeframes, and we thank them for responding to community and elected member requests,” he says.
He also thanks the community for sharing ideas and concerns. In response, Elected Members passed a resolution to improve communication about which streets are planned for resealing in future summer roadworks seasons, giving people advanced warning of plans.
Mahé acknowledges that, like the wider community, Elected Members have a range of views on the topic and a role to advocate for differing community views.
“Some wanted to give local communities a chance to self-fund asphalt, while others felt it would add complexity. In the end, we decided to consider a proposed policy on self-funding as part of the 2027-37 Long-Term Plan.
“In the meantime, those residents who live on asphalt roads which are scheduled to be chip sealed can work with council to reach a funding agreement prior to commencement of work, allowing those who benefit to pay the difference in costs to retain an asphalt surface. In most cases, this could equate to a cost of between $2,000-$10,000 per property, depending on the length and width of the road, and the number of properties involved.”
Mahé adds there will be criteria that neighbourhoods will need to meet to qualify for this extra level of service.
Background information
A number of residential roads due to be chip sealed as part of the city’s road resealing plans are asphalt. Asphalt roads generally last 20-30 years. Staff monitor the condition of roads and do regular assessments once they are showing signs of age. If surface cracking or deterioration is confirmed, they are added to the maintenance programme and resealed, to protect the underlying road structure.
Tauranga City Council uses a ‘fit-for-purpose’ approach, meaning that existing residential asphalt streets which carry low volumes of traffic are resurfaced with chip seal rather than asphalt. The reason for this is mainly related to making ratepayer money go further, because of the lower cost - asphalt costs about five times more than chipseal over a 30-year period.
NZTA applies a value for money approach, funding 51% of the cost of fit-for-purpose resealing. They have strict criteria and will only fund the additional cost of asphalt in exceptional circumstances - mainly on arterial routes with high traffic flows. That typically excludes most suburban residential streets.
Summary of resolutions passed at the City Futures Committee meeting on 25 November 2025
- Council endorses the current policy of fit-for-purpose resurfacing programme while offering ratepayers the choice to increase the level of service (for a street), provided all additional costs to Tauranga City Council of that increased level of service is funded by those receiving the increased level of service.
- Council supports the recommendation to continue with the reseal programme for 2025/26 as planned unless a viable, funding package external of Council is in place supported by a funding agreement. A viable package covers 100% of all costs over and above the TCC portion of chipseal treatment costs.
- That the Council includes in the 2027-2037 Long-Term Plan (LTP) process a proposed policy enabling residents to fund the cost difference between Council’s standard chip seal contribution and asphalt resurfacing, with formal funding agreements to be finalised prior to scheduled works and contributions received in advance of commencement.
- Staff will add targeted communications to homeowners where their road will go from asphalt to chip seal at the beginning of the season and a review of the channels used to deliver this information.
The full video of Tuesday’s City Futures Committee Meeting can be found on Tauranga City Council’s YouTube page.