A series of long term plan meetings originally scheduled for this week have been cancelled because the council is not ready to make the required decisions.

'We just simply weren't ready to get into decision making mode,” says Mayor Stuart Crosby today.

Recovering city growth is delaying long term decisions.

'So we are still, particularly, looking at all the growth elements which are coming on stream with the economy picking up.”

Three days of meetings originally set down for this week have been cancelled.

Stuart expects there will be half-a-dozen items for interim LTP decision ready for the meeting scheduled for December 17, following the SmartGrowth implementation committee meeting on the same day.

All councils are required by law to set a 10-year budget and review it every three years.

The long-term plan covers everything council does and how it is paid for, including regular services.

Also included are repairs and maintenance of the city roads and footpaths, upgrades to stormwater systems and when works will start on new city parks.

The council's existing long term plan is based on the budgets and projects inherited from the previous city council.

The next long-term plan is the current council's opportunity to develop works programmes based on its own priorities.