At its meeting on 28 April, the City Delivery Committee agreed the programme will be delivered as a ‘standard’ service. This means the council will not offer a property owner self-funding option to keep asphalt on roads that are scheduled to move to chipseal next season.
The decision follows a trial during the 2025/26 season, which resulted in very low interest from property owners to fund the additional costs of retaining their streets in asphalt rather than chipseal.
Jen Scoular, Deputy Mayor and Chair of the Delivery Committee, says this issue has raised a lot of feedback, and staff and Council have been out with impacted residents to understand their arguments.
“But it comes down to cost, and as a Council we are looking at value for money, which frankly doesn’t include use of far more expensive asphalt over chipseal. The option to self-fund was offered but very few were willing to pay the extra cost, which in these difficult times, is probably not unexpected,” says Jen.
Out of the 435 property owners offered the self-funding option, only 35 responded to the offer and eight indicated they were willing to pay a contribution towards asphalt. There wasn’t enough interest from any of the affected streets to proceed with resurfacing with asphalt instead of chipseal.
The 2026/27 resurfacing programme includes about 23km of road across 195 sites. This is part of Council’s usual maintenance work, where around three to five per cent of road surfaces are renewed each year to protect them from water damage, reduce potholes, and avoid more costly repairs later.
Chipseal will continue to be the most common treatment, alongside asphalt where it makes sense. This approach meets national funding requirements and helps stretch maintenance budgets further, with 51% of the programme typically co funded by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.
Head of Transport Mike Seabourne says the focus is on keeping roads safe and reliable for everyday travel.
“Resurfacing might not always be flashy, but it’s one of the most important things we do.
“Sealing roads at the right time stops water getting in, protects the structure underneath and keeps the network performing well for years to come.”
Mike says Council acknowledges that surfacing choices can be a hot topic, particularly in areas where roads change from asphalt to chipseal. During the 2025/26 season, there was strong interest from parts of the community, especially in Pāpāmoa.
“We understand people care deeply about their streets. While feedback was strong before and during construction, once the work was finished there were very few ongoing issues. That tells us the network is performing as expected.”
To help avoid surprises, Council is improving how it shares information about upcoming works. The full 2026/27 programme is already available in draft on the Council website, with targeted letters planned closer to construction, followed by a final reminder just before work starts.
Looking ahead, Council confirmed that any wider discussion about property owner funded asphalt resurfacing will happen through the 2027–37 Long term Plan, where the whole community can have their say.