Council has questions for the government about Three Waters Reform

Published on 03 September 2021

Whanganui District Council has released a set of initial questions for the government about its Three Waters Reform programme.

Mayor Hamish McDouall says, “After the government released its Three Waters Reform package in July, councils were asked to analyse the proposals and information provided and come back with any questions and issues by the end of September.”

He says councillors and staff have spent the first month of this eight-week engagement period working through the information. “Workshops have been held with elected members, and council staff have put long hours into summarising and understanding the advantages and disadvantages of the government proposals for Whanganui.

“This has been quite a difficult time as we have, understandably, been fielding many questions from our community – and, like other councils, we don’t yet have all the answers.

“However, we have developed an initial set of questions for the government and outlined some of our concerns. These have been released to the public and media today and can be viewed on the Whanganui District Council website.

“Throughout this month, people are welcome to provide feedback and their own questions for the government,” he says. “This is not a formal consultation phase. We expect that to come later. We are information-sharing and providing an opportunity for people to let us know their initial thoughts. I hope people will head over to the council’s website and explore the information there.

“We have included a feedback box so you can let us know of any questions or concerns you want raised. We'll then use that feedback to help inform our conversations with the government. Visit www.whanganui.govt.nz/three-waters-reform

“We will be regularly sharing information over the coming weeks,” he says. “While we’re still working around Covid-19 alert levels, we may not be able to meet and chat with people at the market or the shopping centre, but we will find work-arounds.  For now, I would ask people to look out for our newspaper advertisements, updates on Facebook, Twitter and media releases on our website.

Mayor Hamish says, “This is one of the biggest reforms affecting local government in decades and the council unanimously feels it is going too fast. We want to have more time to properly engage with our community on this.”

He says, “An MoU signed between government and local authorities in August 2020 was an agreement to share information and to accept post-lockdown stimulus funding for our three waters. It did not commit us to opting into the reforms.

“For Whanganui District Council, the number one priority is making the best decision for our community – and we have not yet reached any conclusion about whether we should opt in or out of these proposals.”

The preliminary list of questions for the government is available at www.whanganui.govt.nz/Services-Amenities/Three-Waters-Reform/Our-questions-for-the-government

ENDS