Westland District Council presents plan for water reform that works

Media Release - For immediate release

Mayors and CEs representing the 32 member councils of Communities 4 Local Democracy He hapori mō te Manapori (C4LD) have presented politicians with their plan for three waters reform that could gain wide support.

The mayors presented their 10 point plan for reform to the Minister for Local Government, Nanaia Mahuta and Department of Internal Affairs officials, as well as Green Party Co-Leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw, and Green MP Eugenie Sage. The group had already presented its models to the National Party and ACT.

“I am very grateful that Westland was ably represented by Deputy Mayor Carruthers and Councillor Martin at the meeting,” says Mayor Bruce Smith. “They took the opportunity to communicate our stance to Ministers that the Westland District community does not support the reform in its current form, but we are willing to compromise to work towards the goals of the reform.

Our community knows that this Council has made progress in providing clean and safe drinking water to the district and in developing better solutions for wastewater. Over the past 5 years we have built three new water treatment plants, and implemented improvements at the others and have a new facility underway to replace the plant at Fox Glacier.

When Hokitika’s new wastewater treatment plant is completed, we can be proud that it will be an environmentally friendly and culturally sensitive solution, which Council developed in meaningful partnership with Mana Whenua. No one has made us do this, but we know that it’s the right thing to do, not only for our iwi partners but all of the community. We think this should show central government that local Council’s don’t have to be forced to work in partnership with local iwi, but that we will choose to when the opportunity arises.

We want to continue to send a very clear message to the Government – Councils know that there are improvements to be made in the delivery of three waters and we are willing to work on compromises. However, our communities need to be reassured that the infrastructure that they have paid for over generations will remain in their control. The Councils involved in Communities for Local Democracy are willing to do the right thing by our communities, we just need to be given the opportunity to do so.”

Manawatu District Mayor and C4LD Chair Helen Worboys said that the group is keen to work with all parties to ensure any reforms have the broad base of support needed for major long-term infrastructure investment.

“The proposals we’ve brought to the table enable the Government to deliver on all its aims, create opportunities for strong and lasting partnerships and deliver safe, sustainable and affordable water services for all New Zealand,” she said.

“They enable us build on existing partnerships and forge new relationships with Mana Whenua at a local level that consider co-design and partnership arrangements to acknowledge and enable Te Tiriti based pathways at a local and regional level.

“They also provide for the continuation of local influence and community property rights.

“We’re confident that we’re in line with the majority of New Zealanders. We’ve presented a reform framework that is directly supported by nearly half of councils in New Zealand and is aligned with the views of the majority of other councils, most notably Auckland representing 1.7 million people.”

The full presentation to the minister outlining C4LD’s framework for reform is now available at www.communities4localdemocracy.co.nz/ideas

C4LD’s 10 point proposal for compromise - supported by all members - reads:

1. Foundation principle - community property rights in Three Waters assets are to be both respected and meaningful.
2. The Government should agree to amend its current reform process and allow time for the revised approach to be reflected in draft legislation.
3. With respect to investment decision-making, asset owners should actively seek to initiate authentic discussions with mana whenua at a local level that consider co-design and partnership arrangements that acknowledge and enable Te Tiriti based pathways at a local and regional level.
4. In return, asset owners agree to commit to meeting health and environmental standards, once known, within an appropriate time frame.
5. The regulatory framework should specify a “backstop” provision that identifies a set of circumstances which would justify future Crown intervention if an asset owner was not making acceptable progress towards meeting those regulatory requirements.
6. Progress should be reported on annually by asset owners and be benchmarked across the sector.
7. To further incentivise sector progress, a formal process might be established that requires an asset owner to prepare a plan that would map out the steps it proposes to take to meet the required standards in a financially viable and sustainable manner.
8. A process to finance and allocate funds to areas that will require financial assistance be designed that is national in application and independently administered accordingly to objective and transparent criteria (this is consistent with the recommendation of the Productivity Commission in November 2019).
9. This subsidy scheme will be designed to meet investment shortfalls until such time as sufficient progress has been made. At which point the scheme will cease and asset owners will finance matters on a business-as-usual approach.
10. A sector-wide sector best-practice improvement process be created and membership made compulsory. (In a similar manner used to implement successfully the One Network Road Classification Framework and now One Network Framework in the road infrastructure area, and governed by Waka Kotahi and the Local Government Sector.)

Media contact:

Emma Rae

Emma.rae@westlanddc.govt.nz