14 February 2025
File Ref: IRC-7811
James Powel
[FYI request #29830 email]
Tēnā koe Mr Powell
Thank you for your email of 21 January 2025 to Te Kaunihera o Pōneke | Wel ington City Council (the
Council) requesting the following information:
•
I am requesting all information held by Wellington City Council (including officials, the Mayor
and elected council ors) relating to the decision by the organisers of the Homegrown festival
to no longer host the event in Wellington.
To be clear, this request includes:
1. Any information held by WCC (including officials, the Mayor and elected council ors)
relating to the decision by organisers of Homegrown to stop hosting the event in
Wellington. This should include briefings, memos, aide memoirs or similar; emails;
notes from meetings; text messages.
2. Any communications between WCC (including officials, the Mayor and elected
council ors) and the organisers of Homegrown. This should include briefings, memos,
aide memoirs or similar; emails; notes from meetings; text messages.
3. Any internal communications between WCC officials, elected council ors and/or the
Mayor regarding the decision by the organisers of Homegrown to no longer host the
event in Wellington. This should include briefings, memos, aide memoirs or similar;
emails; notes from meetings; text messages.
Your request has been considered under the Local Government Of icial Information and Meetings Act
1987 (LGOIMA).
Please find attached, as
Appendix 01 to my response, a copy of the communications that were sent
to the Council regarding the Homegrown Director’s decision to cease holding the event in Wellington.
Some information has been withheld pursuant to section 7(2)(a) of the LGOIMA, to protect the privacy
of natural persons, and section 7(2)(f)(i ) of the LGOIMA, to maintain the effective conduct of public
affairs through the protection of such members, officers, employees, and persons from improper
pressure or harassment.
As per section 7(1) of the LGOIMA, I do not consider that in the circumstances of this response, the
withholding of this information is outweighed by the other considerations which render it desirable to
in the public interest to make the information available.
I can advise that the Mayor’s Of ice did confirm that the mayor has had no communication with the
organisers of Homegrown. It should be noted that the Council only provided operational support to the
event, with Wel ingtonNZ managing the contractual funding relationship, which means that we have
no influence in the decision to move the festival outside of Wellington.
Please note, we have interpreted parts two and three of your request to mean information related to
your topic statement regarding the decision not to host the event in Wellington, which is released in
Appendix 01. If this is not what you are seeking, please clarify further. Additional y, a forensic ICT
search was carried out on the word 'Homegrown,' which returned over 500,000 emails.
You have the right, by way of complaint under section 28(1) of the LGOIMA, to request an
investigation and review of the Council’s decision to withhold and refuse information by the
Ombudsman. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
If you require further information, please contac
t [email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Danika Morris-Brown
Senior Advisor Official Information
Official Information & Privacy
Wellington City Council
Wel ington City Council | 2 of 2
