Councillor misgivings over water reforms
The Tasman District Council has approved its draft submission to the Government’s Water Entities Services Bill despite councillors’ misgivings about the Three Waters reform process.
At a council meeting on Friday councillor Trindi Walker expressed her frustration at the Government mandating the reforms. ‘‘We’re forced to make a change because they’ve legislated that’s something we have to do.’’
Councillor Anne Turley also noted the difficulty of making a comprehensive submission on the bill when several other reform-related bills have yet to pass through Parliament.
Infrastructure planning advisor Helen Lane acknowledged councillors’ misgivings about the reforms but said the extra funding the reforms would provide would be invaluable to the district.
‘‘We need to turn our minds to future proofing Tasman and its residents.’’
Mayor Tim King accepted that there was a case for change, citing an example of a projected $100-200 million needed for eventual water infrastructure works in Motueka. ‘‘At some point we do need to acknowledge that it’s going to be incredibly difficult to do those projects.’’
However, he also said he was opposed to the solution the Government has provided. ‘‘That doesn’t mean we accept everything in the model that has been proposed.’’
The council’s submission took into account the feedback received from local residents though little public engagement was recorded.
Twenty-one respondents provided feedback to the council through its website and the engagement received in webinars and drop-in sessions was ‘‘limited.’’ In comparison, the Nelson City Council recorded more than 100 responses about the reforms and 20 people speaking at public forums.
Tasman respondents indicated their opposition to the reforms, as well as their concerns regarding a lack of community voice, water asset seizure and ownership, and the presence of non-elected members on the proposed governance structure.
King added that he would like to include the ‘‘hundreds’’ of emails councillors have received on the Three Waters reforms in the submission to the bill to supplement the limited number of respondents to council.
Elected members also made clear their support for the entirety of the Tasman district being part of Entity D along with the majority of the South Island rather than in Entity C, which included the eastern North Island and Wellington.
Lane also believed it made more sense for Tasman to move to Entity D given the geographic and cultural factors that linked Te Tauihu to the rest of the South Island, as well as the recent Health New Zealand reforms in which the entire South Island is one of four health entities.
‘‘We were quite dumbfounded as to why they would be different.’’
Councillor Trevor Tuffnell voiced his frustration at the Government’s lack of direct engagement with the people of Tasman. ‘‘We insist that we must be heard, we must have communication,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s really what I want Wellington to understand.’’
However, once it was approved by councillors, Tuffnell indicated that the submission would make the council’s position clear. ‘‘We’ve made a polite point to the Government how we feel . . . we haven’t yelled or screamed, but we’ve shown we’re here.’’ Nelson City Council approved their draft submission to the Water Services Entities Bill last week.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.