Council cops caution over water reform
A concerned resident has warned the Timaru District Council that proposals to change how water is managed in New Zealand could lead to the region getting ‘‘shafted’’.
Janya Lobb, who spoke during the public forum at Tuesday’s council meeting, said the Government was planning to aggregate water assets and create a new authority to oversee all the drinking water quality issues.
The Government is offering $761 million to councils to help them fix their water issues, but this is available only if councils opt-in to consultations and enter good-faith discussions about the sweeping reforms which could include the creation of publicly owned super-regional entities to oversee stormwater, wastewater and drinking water.
However, Lobb told councillors there had been very little public debate about the changes that could lead to the greatest shake-up in local government since the 1989 reforms which saw 850 local bodies merged into 86.
‘‘It is quite clear the preferred option is a very small number of water service providers. You will be giving all the assets away.
‘‘This is the biggest asset grab since 1989. There is no involvement with the public this time around, why is that?’’
Lobb said that during the local government reforms of 1989, people marched down the street to call for a Central South Island regional authority.
‘‘We fell short ... we were this close to getting our own region.
‘‘Since that we’ve had ongoing loss of regional services in South Canterbury. We’ve been shafted.’’
Lobb said the Alpine Energy share sales proposal, where council’s holding company, Timaru District Holdings Ltd, proposed to sell down its shareholding in the lines company, only for the coun
cil to vote it down after a public backlash showed that Timaru people wanted to hold onto their assets.
‘‘These water
TDHL on steroids.’’
She said the Government was keen to see water assets subsumed into five crossregional, publicly-owned water providers.
‘‘That’s where we are heading. But this has been happening behind closed doors. Council can’t afford to stifle public debate about this.
‘‘The people will not be amused to discover their water assets could be going to a monolithic organisation that will have the responsibility from West Coast down to South Canterbury right to the tip of the South Island.
‘‘I think the impact on South Canterbury would be pretty dramatic - there will be job losses, all the services will likely be moved up the road.’’
Timaru mayor Nigel Bowen said he shared her concerns.
‘‘ ... for us the consultation has gone on with central government and councils, but following the meetings we’ve had more questions than answers.’’
He was also concerned about moves to centralise services, and he would ensure the public would be involved in the process. reforms are