Wellington Water chairman Nick Leggett faces calls for his resignation after another scathing report about the organisation.
Wellington Water chairman Nick Leggett faces calls for his resignation after another scathing report about the organisation.
Analysis by Georgina Campbell
Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.
Scathing reports released today confirm Wellington ratepayers are being ripped off for unplanned pipe maintenance, paying three times more than other ratepayers.
Wellington Water’s ability to detect and prevent fraud has also been “significantly reduced” in the absence of reliable safeguards.
Chairman Nick Leggett has apologised and is considering his position amid a call for his resignation.
Wellington Water chairman Nick Leggett is right to “pause for thought” about whether his position is tenable, given the company he is accountable for has ripped off ratepayers.
More scathing reports about the water company’s failings have been released today – the latestof many reviews into Wellington Water in recent years.
The Taxpayers’ Union called the revelations “nothing short of scandal”, while Wellington City councillor Ben McNulty said the region has been “betrayed” by Wellington Water.
At least one mayor in the region has already called for Leggett’s resignation but another said that would be “stupid”.
The reports found Wellingtonians have been paying nearly three times that of comparable councils such as Hamilton and Christchurch for unplanned pipe maintenance.
Wellington is no stranger to water woes, with pipes frequently bursting. Photo / Mark Mitchell
This is a symptom of Wellington Water’s contractual set-up with suppliers and its lack of oversight, assurance and financial controls and processes, the company said.
The other key finding is that the company’s ability to detect and prevent fraud has been “significantly reduced” in the absence of reliable safeguards.
One isolated incident of alleged theft was identified. The employee involved no longer works at the organisation and police are investigating.
Leggett has apologised and said: “It is now abundantly obvious that we have not been delivering value for money for our shareholding councils. This is as unacceptable to the board, as it is to councils and ratepayers.”
He also apologised for not listening to some staff and council shareholders who had previously raised these issues.
Asked if he would resign over the situation, Leggett said he would “pause for thought”.
Leggett said he wanted people to focus on the significant reports released today and the changes being made.
“Accountability is identifying a problem, and fixing it. And that’s what we’re doing.”
If the region’s mayors said he needed to resign, Leggett said of course he would.
“We’ll hear over the next few days what the situation is and whether they want me to stay and continue the work I’ve started.”
There was also a change in chief executive in 2023, Colin Crampton left to become the inaugural Chief Executive of Entity C, one of the new water services entities in Labour’s three waters reforms.
A separate independent report into that error found the company was immature, with inadequate systems and processes and had a dysfunctional culture.
Pat Dougherty was appointed as Wellington Water’s new chief executive in September 2024 after previously serving as a director on the company’s board.
The announcement of Dougherty’s appointment focused on the need to improve the company’s performance. Leggett said at that time they had been “relentless in identifying areas of improvement and making fundamental changes to the way we work and operate”.
The pair encouraged people to speak up and with assurance that concerns would be acted on.
“Through this change in culture and direction, we expected to find more areas where improvement was needed, and we haven’t been proven wrong,” Leggett said of the reports released today.
Wellington Water is owned by the Wellington, Hutt, Porirua, and Upper Hutt city councils, Greater Wellington Regional Council and South Wairarapa District Council.
Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy said Leggett should resign.
“When you have something like this, and they’ve allowed this to happen for a long period of time, then there is no question that heads have got to go.”
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said she was horrified by the higher costs ratepayers in the region were paying but said talk of resignations was “absolutely stupid”.
“Pat Dougherty and Nick as chair have led this report and driven these findings and it’s taken a while because we’ve needed to get a new chief executive so, I think what they’ve done is really good and I would not understand why you would want to throw that out.”
Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau said questions needed to be answered by the board and Wellington Water’s leadership about how this situation was allowed to develop over such a long period of time.
The question now is whether Leggett needs to pay the ultimate price for the failings given he has only been in the role for less than two years and the company’s shortcomings stretch far beyond his tenure.
Shareholders need to decide whether he is part of the problem or the solution.
Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.
