How did Council provide feedback on the reforms?
In 2021 the Government asked us to examine the facts and figures in front of us, to determine the impact the reforms would on service delivery and our community.
Staff and elected members reviewed the large volume of information provided to determine what is being proposed and why.
At that stage Council was yet to form a collective view on the reforms, but instead asked questions and raised concerns alongside fellow Entity B councils.
Some concerns and questions raised across Entity B included:
- Effectiveness of governance representation
- Loss of community influence
- Will ratepayers actually be better off financially?
- What will the impact be on the rest of Council services?
Council provided a letter of feedback to Central Government on 30 September 2021. Read the letter here.
At the time of Council's feedback in 2021 there was clear commitment from all stakeholders for the need to spend more time working through some issues that are important to all of us. These are:
- Ensuring all communities have both a voice in the system and influence over local decisions. This means being sure the water entities understand and act on communities’ needs and wants.
- Effective representation on the new water entities’ oversight boards so that there is strong accountability to the communities they serve. This includes effective assurance that entities remain in public ownership and cannot be privatised in future.
- Making sure councils’ plans for growth are appropriately integrated with water services planning.
Feedback taken on board
As a result of widespread opposition to a number of elements of the reforms, three ministerial working groups have been set up to further investigate and recommend alternatives to specific aspects of the proposed reforms. The following working groups were tasked to address specific areas of concern:
- Rural Supplies Technical Working Group
- Planning Technical Working Group
- Working Group on Representation, Governance and Accountability of new Water Services Entities
The Working Group on Representation, Governance and Accountability of new Water Services Entities made 47 recommendations in its working group report, 44 of which have been accepted by the government.
A summary of the recommendations and the government’s response to each of them can be found here.