Focus on local voice top priority for Mayor
Published on 27 June 2023
The opportunity to have a stronger local voice in the future management of water services has been welcomed by Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe, who says protecting local interests is his top priority as the council prepares a submission on amendments to the government’s three waters plan.
The government’s Water Services Entities Amendment Bill 2023 had its first reading in Parliament on Thursday, 22 June. The Bill proposes key changes to earlier legislation setting out how New Zealand’s drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services are run.
Instead of just four water services entities throughout the country, the amendments include the establishment of ten entities. Whanganui District Council would form part of a new Entity E alongside neighbouring territorial authorities Palmerston North City Council and Rangitikei, Ruapehu, Manawatū, Horowhenua and Tararua district councils.
Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe says while Whanganui District Council remains opposed to the government’s water services plan, the amendments do address some of the key concerns raised in previous council submissions.
The updates were shared with the council’s Strategy and Policy committee meeting today, 27 June 2023.
“We were worried that having only four entities could diminish local influence and result in delayed response times to local issues. The move to ten entities, largely based on existing regional boundaries, means we can build on the already-positive relationships we have with our neighbours as part of the new Entity E,” Mayor Andrew says.
“The inclusion of community priority statements in the Bill also shows the importance of having a local voice and local aspirations. That’s something we have advocated strongly for throughout the reform process.”
Mayor Andrew says it is beneficial that Entity E includes the Whanganui River in its entirety and aligns with the Manawatū water catchment area. Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017 has also been referenced in the amendments to an earlier piece of legislation.
The Water Services Entities Amendment Bill also proposes that each territorial authority will be represented on the regional representative group (RRG) of their entity, together with an equal number of Mana Whenua representatives.
The government proposes a staggered approach to entity ‘go live’ dates, with entities expected to be in place between 1 July 2024 and 1 July 2026.
Mayor Andrew says the government needs to ensure that the National Transition Unit has sufficient resources to stand up the entities as soon as practical. This would provide reassurance and clarity for council staff affected by the changes.
“We also want to make sure that when our entity goes live there is a high-quality day one experience for staff and customers and that the changes will have a reduced cost impact against the status quo.
“We believe all councils in our new Entity E should receive additional transition funding to support the July 2026 timeframe. We don’t want investment in local infrastructure to be delayed unnecessarily. The quicker investment can happen in our assets, the lower the costs will be to ratepayers in the long-term.”
Whanganui District Council chief executive David Langford says the council still wants to see the new entity be set up in a way that keeps highly-skilled technical and managerial roles based in Whanganui.
“Spreading these roles across the region rather than having them all based in one location would support the economic strength of the regions and growth areas.”
The council also wants to make clear that in the new model Civil Defence and Emergency Management services retain a strong local presence, to respond quickly to life-threatening incidents and infrastructure failures in a major emergency.
“We also expect that the Department of Internal Affairs will continue to actively engage with Iwi/hapū representatives in the wider Whanganui rohe and ensure their voices continue to be heard throughout this process,” says David Langford.
Whanganui District Council is preparing a submission on the Bill.
The Water Services Entities Amendment Bill 2023 will be referred to Select Committee with submissions to close at 11.59pm on Wednesday, 5 July.
The public also has an opportunity to submit on the Bill. More details here