Leaders fear Northland voice will be lost in the restructuring plan. Photo / 123rf
Leaders fear Northland voice will be lost in the restructuring plan. Photo / 123rf
Whangārei District Council is remaining defiant as the Government unveils its huge three waters restructuring plans.
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has today released plans that will see the North put into a huge single giant Northland/Auckland three waters entity servicing 1.7 million people.
Mahuta said the move on three waters - drinking water wastewater and stormwater -infrastructure would save ratepayers money.
Whangārei Mayor Sheryl Mai said her council's opt out from the national restructuring yesterday still stood.
"Our position stands, we have opted out. Nothing has changed from yesterday," Mai said. Whangārei is the only council in New Zealand to have opted out of the three waters restructuring.
Its withdrawal has thrown Government plans into disarray as its modelling around the costs and benefits for this is based on WDC being part of the picture.
The Government unveiled proposals to move the ownership and management of water infrastructure from local councils into the hands of four water service entities across New Zealand.
These are currently known as entities A, B, C and D. Its top of New Zealand 'entity A' combines the three waters functions currently with Whangārei District Council (WDC), Far North District Council (FNDC), Kaipara District Council (KDC) into a giant entity with Auckland Council.
Kaipara Mayor Dr Jason Smith said the Government now needed to provide accurate updated information for the other 'entity A' councils to use as towards their opt in/opt out decision making.
He said the new 'entity A' meant there was a high risk of Northland's voice being lost.
More than 90 per cent of the people in the new entity would be in Auckland. No other entity had this degree of imbalance.
The new entity will own and manage the currently more than a billion dollars worth of Northland ratepayer-funded three waters infrastructure, which the Government has said will be publicly owned.
Whangārei Mayor Sheryl Mai said her council's opt out from the national restructuring still stood. Photo / file
Smith said it was of particular concern the Government could give no guarantee the new shareholders' representative group connected with that entity would include Northlanders.
Far North Mayor John Carter said there was more work for councils to do to fully understand the implications of today's announcement. Economies of scale and cost efficiencies outlined by the Government made a strong case for three waters reorganisation.
However, Northlanders hadn't supported past proposals to merge local government services in Northland.
"We need to ensure that we fully understand the advantages and disadvantages of being part of an entity that provides three waters services to 1.7 million people across a large area," Carter said.
Northland Regional Council (NRC) chair Penny Smart reacted cautiously to today's Government announcements.
She said there were no surprises with the number of entities as that had been signalled by the Government.
"But the devil is in the detail and how the structure is worked out between Auckland and Northland," Smart said.
NRC is involved in the region's three waters sector as a regulator. The infrastructure assets at stake in the restructure sit with district councils.
COSTS
A new Government dashboard shows key three waters information for Northland's three district councils and Auckland councils in 'entity A'.
It shows the annual cost of three waters provision to average householders currently and in five years with as well as without the proposed restructure.
The average household would be paying $800 across all four councils five years down the track from reforms.
