Western Bay of Plenty Council joins other councils seeking solution to Three Waters

The council agreed “in principle” to join Communities 4 Local Democracy. Photo / John Borren

As the controversial Three Waters debate rages on, the Western Bay of Plenty District Council is joining forces with other councils to come up with another solution.

The council agreed “in principle” to join the local government action group Communities 4 Local Democracy (C4LD) at a meeting on Wednesday.

C4LD is made up of 31 of Aotearoa’s 67 councils, and aims to work with the Government to deliver safe drinking water while retaining local voices and meaningful partnerships with mana whenua.

The group opposes the Three Waters reforms in their current form, which will see wastewater, stormwater and drinking water managed by four publicly owned entities instead of individual councils.

Councillor Margaret Murray-Benge said under the reforms the water services were “being transferred over to these huge entities that are tribal-dominated, and it’s just so undemocratic”.

The regional entities will be governed by a Board made up of local authority members and mana whenua.

”If this goes through and we do nothing, then all I know is that having had the experience of it before, we will just be walked over and will be regionalised,” said Murray-Benge.

”Our ratepayers, who are so uptight about this issue, will have no say whatsoever in a bigger conglomerate. It’s time we joined the organisation that has the community at heart.”

Councillor Murray Grainger supported joining C4LD and said many of the councillors had campaigned on their opposition to the reforms.

”We would not be representing our constituents who put us around the table if we’re not prepared to stand up for what we believe and for what they want.

”The previous council was not prepared to stand up for the people of our district on this matter.”

Grainger failed to get the previous council to join C4LD in December 2021, when his motion to join was lost by a majority vote.

Councillor Grant Dally said he voted against C4LD membership a year ago because the Government was “forging ahead” with the reforms and he wasn’t sure what the group was likely to achieve.

The issues of privatisation and loss of local voice raised by the community still hadn’t been addressed, Dally said.

”The four entities that are being established at the moment do lend themselves to being sold off in an asset grab.

”Small and regional entities are the way forward that will retain that local voice, that will get more protection against privatisation.”

He now supported joining C4LD, saying they were the “experts on the ground”.

Deputy Mayor John Scrimgeour was against joining, as he didn’t believe it would “have much impact” on central government.

”The most likely way to achieve significant change […] is through a change of central government.

”Given that, a number of parties have indicated that they will be repealing the legislation [if they are elected].”

Councillor Tracey Coxhead disagreed with Scrimgeour’s stance.

”I don’t agree that doing nothing’s an option. I believe that bad things happen because good people do nothing,” she said.

Councillor Rodney Joyce “took issue” with Scrimgeour’s “idea that the thing was done and dusted”.

”This is a live issue. One Bill has been passed; two more are still to go.”

Joyce agreed: “The real answer to change may well be the election.”

The Waters Services Entities Bill, the first of the three Bills that will enact the reforms, was passed in Parliament earlier this month.

Grainger said the Government’s handling of this Bill showed “blatant disregard for the will of the people and for the due process of rulemaking”.

Western Bay of Plenty Mayor James Denyer said there were trade-offs in Three Waters reforms. Photo / John Borren

Mayor James Denyer said his earlier “reluctance” to join C4LD had “waned” given the changes the group made in the past year.

”The ability of C4LD to achieve its aims remains uncertain. A practical alternative is yet to emerge, and that involves trade-offs.

”There are trade-offs in Three Waters reform - you can’t have everything you want. And that’s unfortunately what central government have to deal with.”

The council also agreed in principle to support the C4LD draft Mayoral Declaration, which was crafted by the C4LD coalition and the mayors of Auckland and Christchurch City councils.

The mayors put forward an alternate proposal that kept part of the existing reforms, including the new water regulator, Taumata Arowai, while maintaining local ownership, control and accountability.

The plan would replace four large water entities with Regional Water Organisations (RWOs), which would be unable to be sold outside local authority ownership.

The council asked staff to clarify the conditions of C4LD membership, future financial commitments, future plans and any queries with governance.

Once this was complete, councillors would vote again on whether to confirm the arrangement.

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