Why Brown’s tantrum signals a wider crisis in local govt

Wellington’s councillors continued their estrangement from the city’s residents (and possibly reality) last week with a long debate about ‘‘vision’’. Councils’ long-term plans outline their vision, community outcomes, work programme and budgets for the coming decade.

But the capital’s council – arguably the country’s most wasteful, incompetent and dysfunctional – needed a vision for the vision.

And, true to form, they couldn’t even agree on that.

There is an alternative vision for the future. But it isn’t one they are going to like.

This government is undertaking significant reforms that will fundamentally change the way that communities shape and make decisions.

To a cynical eye, they amount to increased centralisation and potentially more amalgamation.

Resource management reform is well under way. Already, there are concerns about a loss of local voice in a proposed regional planning system.

The Three Waters policy is contentious because the Government is proposing to take billions of dollars’ worth of drinking, waste and storm water assets off the hands of local councils and put them in the hands of four new entities.

And finally, there is an ongoing review of the future of local government.

So far, two reports from the review’s panel are fairly vague. But they suggest that some issues would be better tackled at scale: climate change mitigation and adaptation, transport and waste management and regulatory responsibilities across animal control, sale of alcohol and building regulations.

Residents can barely raise themselves to vote in