Te Aroha Spa

What we're proposing to reduce

We are proposing to continue to explore options to help Te Aroha capitalise on its rich spa history and thrive as a tourist destination.

• Council receives funding from the Provincial Growth Fund to investigate Te Aroha’s tourism potential.

Visit the mpdc.nz/spa website for more detailed information on this project.

The proposed spa development for Te Aroha was a hot topic in the last Long Term Plan, with community support for investing in Te Aroha’s spa tourism potential.

We’ve spent the last three years doing comprehensive investigations, with the advice and support of leading industry experts. The resulting proposal was a spa complex with a cost estimate of $37.7 million. That figure was nearly twice what we had budgeted, but given the potential benefits, we decided to see if we could attract a third party investor to help drive the project forward. The investment case was put out to the global market but didn’t attract the level of interest or funding that we hoped for.

Why we are proposing to reduce funding

The proposed spa development for Te Aroha was a hot topic in the last Long Term Plan, with community support for investing in Te Aroha’s spa tourism potential.

We’ve spent the last three years doing comprehensive investigations, with the advice and support of leading industry experts. The resulting proposal was a spa complex with a cost estimate of $37.7 million. That figure was nearly twice what we had budgeted, but given the potential benefits, we decided to see if we could attract a third party investor to help drive the project forward. The investment case was put out to the global market but didn’t attract the level of interest or funding that we hoped for.

Why we’re proposing to reduce funding: We committed to developing a spa if the business case stacked up – and we don’t believe that the business case stacks up in the current economic environment. Without a third party investor, and with so many other MUST do projects, we don’t believe we can justify a $37.7 million spa development.

We still believe that Te Aroha has strong tourism potential and don’t want all the groundwork that has been done to go to waste. We are proposing to continue to explore options to help Te Aroha capitalise on its rich spa history and thrive as a tourist destination. That might be developing the existing spa, refurbishing it, or partnering with an investor.

Continue investigating options

We are proposing to continue to explore options to help Te Aroha capitalise on its rich spa history and thrive as a tourist destination.

The draft budget includes $200,000 for scoping and planning works in 2025/26 and $5m for capital in 2026/27 to develop on or refurbish the spa, or make other improvements. Council would come back to the community with further information/details following the scoping phase.

Standard of service this would provide:

Investigation phase – service would remain the same.

Capital works – would improve this service.

Impact on debt:

$5.2 million following completion in 2026/27.

Average additional operating cost per year:

$494,000 following completion in 2026/27.

Average additional cost per property per year:

$20.18 following completion in 2026/27.

$18.9 million for a spa development in Te Aroha

Following community feedback to ‘do it properly’, Council included $18.9 million for a spa development in Te Aroha if the business case stacked up.

Standard of service this would provide:

Significant improvement.

Impact on debt:

$18.9 million following completion in 2026/27.

Council's share of additional operating cost per year:

$1.6 million following completion in 2026/27.

Average additional cost per property per year:

$67.04 following completion in 2026/27.

Stop work on it all together

Acknowledging that the business case for a new spa doesn't stack up right now, we could stop work on it all together. We would ‘shelve’ the work done to date and Council could choose to revisit it at some point in the future.

We would continue to operate our existing spas, which already attract tourists to the area - operating at full capacity for most of the year.

Standard of service this would provide:

Same as current service/no change.

Impact on debt:

$Nil.

Average additional operating cost per year:

$Nil.

Average additional cost per property per year:

$Nil.

Continue investigating options

Other projects we're proposing to reduce

Additional Playgrounds

We’re proposing that we limit new playgrounds to the planned, new playgrounds in Matamata and Te Aroha to keep costs down.

Roading Renewals

We’re proposing to spread out our road pavement renewal programme over a longer period. We would closely monitor the quality of the road network, and prioritise work to try and keep the roads to the current standard.