Council requests Three Waters update from Government

30 Sep, 2021

Kaipara District Council has agreed, at its September meeting, that a letter be sent to the Minister for Local Government highlighting some key areas of concern around the proposed Three Waters Review. A draft of the letter was presented to the meeting.

“We know some of our communities have felt uninformed over the Three Waters Reform proposal,” says mayor Jason Smith. “We’ve received your emails, and heard from you at events, and discussed one-on-one with many people what we know of the Government’s proposals. We still have many questions about their proposals. This letter clearly sets out the areas we still need information on, so we ensure we’re able to fully understand the scope of this large-scale, radical change to how Local Government would operate.”

The key areas of concern are detailed in the letter, and cover:

· How the level of cross subsidisation would work around Entity A (incorporating councils of Auckland, Whangarei, Far North and Kaipara,

· A request for Kaipara to have a seat on any Representative Governance Group that may be established,

· Confirmation on the approach to debt financing with the Local Government Funding Agency and Council’s role as a guarantor,

· Clarity on the status of land drainage parts of the stormwater network,

· Clarity around how the proposed water entity would manage future planning, to ensure that transport and community infrastructure, which Council would still control, would continue to be aligned,

· How the proposed entity would align with and support the outcomes of the climate change adaptation work being done in the community, and,

· How the proposed Entity A body would engage with Kaipara people.

“We will continue to push for information that will enable us to make the right decision for Kaipara. Until we have that information it is difficult to assess the benefit, or risk of such wide-scale change. I urge Kaipara people to play close attention to the information that is available and participate in any consultation opportunities that present once the Government advises next steps.

The full letter is available on the Council website kaipara.govt.nz.