Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council have agreed to replace the separate boards overseeing Infrastructure Holdings Ltd, Port Nelson Ltd and Nelson Airport Ltd with a single board from the start of 2027.
The move follows a review launched in 2024 and a decision made at a joint meeting of the two councils on 30 June 2026. The councils say the change will improve accountability, reduce costs and simplify governance of some of the region’s most important infrastructure assets.
Infrastructure Holdings Ltd (IHL) is jointly owned 50/50 by Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council and owns both Port Nelson and Nelson Airport.
“This new single-board structure best ensures we maximise the performance of these companies and improves the accountability to the Councils and public who own them. The simplified board structure also provides clearer accountability for the management of the port and airport companies and minimises conflicts of interests and compliance costs,” Nelson Mayor Nick Smith and Tasman Mayor Tim King said.
The mayors said the change would streamline reporting lines by removing the need for airport and port management to answer to both subsidiary boards and the Infrastructure Holdings board.
“We want the management of Port Nelson and Nelson Airport to report to a single governance board rather than the duplication of answering to both their own board and the Infrastructure Holdings board. We also want only one degree of separation between the Council shareholders and the operational boards of the port and airport.”
The new structure will replace the interim governance arrangement established when Infrastructure Holdings Ltd was formed in 2023. That model included an independent chair and two directors from each subsidiary company serving on the IHL board.
Under the new arrangement, the number of directors across the three companies will reduce from 12 to seven or eight.
“The purpose of establishing Infrastructure Holdings Ltd was to enable access to lower-cost finance through the Local Government Funding Agency. This has proved successful with a net saving of about $2.5 million since it started on 1 July 2023. One of the objectives of the simplified structure is to generate further savings for the businesses and Council shareholders,” the mayors said.
The councils say there are no plans to merge the port and airport companies or their management teams.
“Councils have no plans or intention to merge the port and airport companies or management. They both provide important transport infrastructure for the region but the management skillset to run a seaport and the industries it serves is quite different from an airport.
“We will be ensuring we have the right set of board skills to provide good governance to these three companies. The next step will be the Joint Shareholders Committee determining the skills matrix, criteria and recruitment panel for the new consolidated board. We are engaging professional support in this process and will be publicly advertising for the new consolidated board in October. The intention is to finalise the makeup of the new board in December to take effect on 1 January 2027.
“We have appointed Paul Steere, the former Chair of Nelson Airport Ltd, as an interim Chair of IHL until 31 December 2026 to assist in this process. He will not be a candidate for the new board and will help enable a neutral process in the selection of the new consolidated board.
“Our port and airport are crucial assets for the region and particularly for our export and tourism sectors. Our goal for these companies is for them to be commercially successful, provide quality services and support the region’s economic development,” the mayors said.
