The last thing Dunedin wants is "a Gerry Brownlee-type figure" to come in and start trying to solve South Dunedin’s problems, a regional councillor says.
The Dunedin City Council and Otago Regional Council have now both approved a joint-council, four-year programme to address climate change issues in the low-lying coastal suburb.
Dunedin city councillors approved the programme last week.
This week, when regional councillors did the same, the question of how and when central government should get involved was at the forefront of debate.
He endorsed Taieri MP Ingrid Leary’s position that the climate challenges in South Dunedin offered an opportunity for a "pilot partnership project".
Ms Leary said last month that in partnership local and central government could co-design a plan that would inspire the Government to get on board.
Cr Laws said he wanted both central government and the private sector involved now, not baulking after four years when the city and regional councils had "knocked everything out".
"I don’t want them to come in once you’ve narrowed the options. I want them brought in now, because they are going to be critical to the financing and the formation of any plan that works.
"I have zero faith in the DCC and the ORC developing an insightful, clever, creative solution for South Dunedin," Cr Laws said.
"I don’t share the sneering cynicism of some about the competency of DCC and ORC. I think this is a good framework, good progress, and the last thing we want is an opportunity for a Gerry Brownlee-type figure to come in and say, ‘I’m the Minister for South Dunedin’s recovery, I’ll take over, everybody stand back . . .’.
"And see what a complete shambles that [the] government made of the recovery of Christchurch, because central government moved in far too quickly with almost a bullying approach.
"It’s the last thing we want."
Cr Gary Kelliher said central government had to become involved in an overall plan which would hopefully be developed in the next three years.
Somewhere down the track there would be a rating requirement, Cr Kevin Malcolm said.
Cr Hilary Calvert said she would abstain. She compared Mr Rowe’s report to poetry but said she did not understand what it meant.
Chairman Andrew Noone said the programme provided confidence for people who lived in or owned property in South Dunedin.
