South Taranaki District Council steps up fight against Three Waters, donates $15K to campaign

South Taranaki District Council on Monday voted to join a list of councils opposing the government's Three Waters reforms. Photo / NZME

South Taranaki District Council is to contribute $15,000 of ratepayer money towards a campaign with 22 other councils opposing the Three Waters reforms.

The council met on Monday night to discuss their approach to the reforms, which would see all three water entities - wastewater, drinking water and stormwater - amalgamated into four regional entities.

At that meeting, councillors voted unanimously in support of signing a Memorandum of Understanding with partner councils opposing the reforms.

Part of that agreement will see the council stump up $15,000 as a contribution to the campaign.

"While we accepted that things needed some change, what really upset us and many of our ratepayers was the government's decision to force councils to be part of the Three Waters Reform without any consultation," Mayor Phil Nixon said in a statement.

South Taranaki Mayor Phil Nixon has been critical of the Three Waters plan since it was announced last year. Photo / NZME

"We were consistently told by the government that there would be an opportunity for full public consultation on this hugely important matter. But now, and after the majority of councils asked the Government to pause and rethink, they ignored us and took decision making completely out of our hands. It's wrong and it's anti-democratic."

Nixon has previously been critical of the reforms, telling the Chronicle in September the idea of amalgamating water assets was "unnecessary bureaucracy."

The council questioned the accuracy of the government's figures around the benefits of the reforms, and said ratepayers would quickly lose any say in the future of the assets if the plan was implemented.

Nixon said on Tuesday that in his time as a local politician, he has never seen the public so angry over one issue.

"Given the government hasn't provided opportunities for genuine participation in Three Waters reform, we think it's entirely appropriate for our council to use all means at our disposal for representing the residents of South Taranaki and giving them a voice."

The Government has delayed the next stage of its Three Waters reforms until next year.

When Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced the plan in October, the legislation creating the new entities was set to be introduced to Parliament by the end of the year, but the Government was forced to concede last week it would be delayed.