Andy Foster announces Wellington mayoral bid on Newstalk ZB

Andy Foster. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Wellington mayor Andy Foster has announced on Newstalk ZB's Wellington Mornings he wants another term in the job.

Foster promised host Nick Mills months ago he would announce what his intentions were for the mayoralty on the local show.

Foster said he was absolutely committed to Wellington.

"I've been privileged to be the mayor for the last two and a bit years. It's been an extraordinarily tough time. We've got an enormous amount done in that period of time and I don't think we've necessarily been given the credit for doing it."

Referring to his fellow councillors, Foster said he hasn't always had the team to back him, but he thought they were now working reasonably well together.

"We've done a lot for the city and I'd really like to take that forward."

He said he saw the situation as a two-horse race between himself and Rongotai MP Paul Eagle.

Foster added the council has delivered more in the past two weeks than most councils would deliver in three years.

This included signing off on the year's budget, the proposed district plan, a sludge treatment option, agreeing to create a community housing provider, and opening the St James Theatre.

Foster said he had committed most of his working life to making a difference to the city.
He said restoration of the natural environment throughout the city would not have happened without him and he had supported efforts to get more people walking, cycling, and using public transport.

He has also taken a pragmatic approach in realising that people sometimes needed to use cars too.

Foster said decisions around the district plan have been difficult and the debate around character areas has been deliberately divisive.

He said the mayoralty, and the number of hours involved in the job, have taken a toll on him and his family.

When asked whether he would run in a council ward as well, Foster said his focus was on the mayoralty.

His first term as mayor after decades of being a city councillor has proved challenging.

Foster's council has been characterised as divided and dysfunctional to the point he ordered an independent review of governance.

The ensuing report found Foster had been an ineffective champion for Wellington, which was considered one of the mayor's key roles.

Foster avoided formal censure but was told to apologise after he was found to have breached the council's code of conduct over information relating to Shelly Bay.

He has struggled to find the numbers around the table - leaving majorities to form elsewhere, often resulting in council decisions being influenced by a left bloc of councillors.

Foster has been at the helm during a massive overhaul of the city's district plan to allow higher-density development, but has received sharp criticism for his eleventh-hour amendments to reduce walking catchments.

Wellington City Council. Photo / Mark Mitchell

He made it clear this week he doesn't like the Government's Three Waters reforms, despite Wellington being the poster child for the country's water infrastructure crisis.

More recently Foster has had a few things to celebrate, such as the reopening of the St James Theatre and the council voting in favour of the Government's preferred option for Let's Get Wellington Moving.

The race for the capital's mayoralty has heated up in recent weeks with Labour Rongotai MP Paul Eagle announcing his candidacy.

He is taking unpaid leave for three months during the campaign period and donating his salary to charity.

Eagle said he would resign from parliament at the earliest opportunity if he was successfully elected as mayor, but is yet to make a decision as to whether he would stand again for Rongotai if he was unsuccessful.

The Labour-endorsed candidate is yet to reveal any specific policies but said Wellingtonians could expect a "back to basics" approach.

Green Party-endorsed candidate Tory Whanau announced her candidacy early and revealed several policies at an event last week, including pedestrianising Cuba St.

Her flagship policy is to deliver a new major urban revitalisation project between Wellington's waterfront and the hospital, including Kent Tce and Cambridge Tce.