Reform for water ‘too fast’
McDouall says more time needed for consultation
Whanganui District Council has outlined some of its concerns and developed a set of questions for the Government over its Three Waters programme.
The Government released its Three Waters Reform package in July, and councils were asked to analyse the proposals and information provided and come back with any questions and issues by the end of September, Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall said.
They were released to the public on Friday, and can be viewed on the Whanganui District Council website.
McDouall said the Three Waters programme was one of the biggest reforms affecting local government in decades.
He said the council unanimously felt the reform process was going too fast.
“We want to have more time to properly engage with our community on this,” he said.
“For Whanganui District Council, the number one priority is making the best decision for our community — and we have not yet reached any conclusion about whether we should opt in or out of these proposals.”
Councillors and staff had spent the first month of the eight-week engagement period working through the information,” McDouall said.
“Workshops have been held with elected members, and council staff have put long hours into summarising and understanding the advantages and disadvantages of the Government proposals for Whanganui.
“This has been quite a difficult time as we have, understandably, been fielding many questions from our community — and, like other councils, we don’t yet have all the answers.”
Last month, McDouall summarised the programme by saying the Government was proposing to transfer water supply, stormwater and wastewater from individual councils to four amalgamated water service entities which would be owned collectively by their member local authorities.
He said members of the public were welcome to provide feedback and their own questions for the Government throughout September. It wasn’t a formal consultation, he added, but that was expected to come later, he said.
“We are information-sharing and providing an opportunity for people to let us know their initial thoughts.”
He said he hoped locals would visit the council’s website and explore the information about the reform.
“We have included a feedback box so you can let us know of any questions or concerns you want raised. We’ll then use that feedback to help inform our conversations with the Government.
“We will be regularly sharing information over the coming weeks.”
The preliminary list of questions for the Government is available at www.whanganui.govt.nz/ServicesAmenities/Three-Waters-Reform/ Our-questions-for-the-government.