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North Canterbury council leaders are hoping for more certainty from Government as they grapple with a wave of reforms.
As the dust settles on councils submitting proposals for amalgamation reform, attention turns to the November 7 general election.
Hurunui Mayor Marie Black and Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon said they want to see more consistency and certainty around the multitude of Government reforms.
The mayors want more clarity on what is expected of them, no matter which Government is voted in.
If there is a change of Government, the mayors want to know whether the legislation will simply be turfed out or whether they will work with the legislation.
Councils have been in the firing line, with a Resource Management Act (RMA) overhaul, a proposed rates cap, plans to abolish regional councils, and preparing unitary council proposals under the Government’s Head Start pathway.
The Hurunui and Waimakariri submitted a joint North Canterbury unitary council proposal, while Kaikōura made a joint submission with Marlborough.
Councils which did not submit a proposal, or had their proposal declined, would be left in the Backstop, where future governance arrangements could be imposed.
Mrs Black said she wanted more clarity around the timeframes for local government reform and what the ‘Backstop’ will mean ‘‘if it is not possible to progress Canterbury as a region’’.
Mrs Black said she would also like more clarity around environmental risks or opportunities in the new resource management planning framework and more investment in rural health.
Mr Gordon said communities needed certainty that projects like the Woodend Bypass and the Rangiora eastern link road ‘‘will progress across election cycles’’.
‘‘Funding for a project is never fully committed to – instead we get ‘piece by piece’ announcements. Communities need certainty," the Waimakariri Mayor said.
Fast-track legislation, designed to speed up major projects, needed to ‘‘respect decisions already made through established planning processes’’, Mr Gordon said, referring to the proposed Ohoka and Pegasus Golf Course residential developments.
New funding tools, such as city and regional deals, GST sharing on new housing and a regional infrastructure fund, were needed, he said.
Environment Canterbury chairperson Dr Deon Swiggs said councils wanted an assurance a new Government would not restart the process around RMA reform and other legislative reform.
‘‘There’s been so much reform and now we need to start implementing, and our productive sector needs to have more certainty.’’
Dr Swiggs said he would like to see a rethink around transport funding.
‘‘If we don’t invest in maintaining our infrastructure and building resilience, then when disaster strikes, it ends up costing a lot more, and the principle is the same whether you are talking about roading or rivers or other infrastructure.’’
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The last day to enrol to vote will be October 25, with advance voting starting the next day.
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■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
