[Missing Credit][object Object] The deadline for local government amalgamation proposals under the Head Start programme has passed but ratepayers around the country are likely wondering what will happen next. Eighteen proposals were submitted to the government. These will be assessed by officials who will provide advice to the Cabinet and decisions will be made next month on which will progress to the detailed design phase. How thorough any of this perusal might be is anyone’s guess but the speed of this continues to be a concern. Following the detailed design phase, Cabinet will make final decisions on which proposals proceed through new law before the next local government elections. In its information about the process, the government says the need for unanimous council support or a high level of community support has been a barrier to local government reorganisation in the past. Hence, it sees the need for some form of government intervention to give effect to reorganisation. In those parts of the country where more than one proposal has been submitted each of them will be assessed before the Cabinet makes decisions on the next steps. The Government is also continuing to consider arrangements for areas that do not progress through Head Start. Decisions on those, called the backstop process, will be informed by lessons from the Head Start pathway, consultation feedback and further advice from officials. Councils and their ratepayers could be forgiven for thinking that sounds much like making It up as you go along. As we nudge closer to the election campaign, it will be fascinating to see how well the government’s version of localism as it relates to local government, and also its fast tracking proposals, are being received. In recent days a variety of concerns have been aired around the country about the Wellington-led approach to issues. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown and his Queenstown counterpart John Glover have written to Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop seeking an immediate pause on future fast-tracking of greenfield housing developments. Mr Brown has called a huge development near Orewa “amateur, pathetic and stupid’’\. For both mayors, a major concern has been the adequacy of infrastructure planning for water and sewerage services. They fear ratepayers and taxpayers will end up subsidising developments in the wrong places with developers avoiding paying the true costs of growth. In Gisborne, there is considerable frustration about Minister Responsible for Resource Management Act Reform Chris Bishop’s bizarre refusal to approve a land use plan designed to urgently address the issue of preventing or easing the impact of forestry slash, soil and debris in extreme weather events. The plan, which had been widely consulted on, followed a ministerial inquiry after the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle. Mr Bishop’s refusal means the plan change cannot be publicly notified before the end of next year. Another concern raised this week involves the risk to ongoing pest control programmes in the transition away from regional councils. If the government does not reconsider its hasty, high-handed and messy approach to issues such as these, it can expect to hear much more about it on the campaign trail. Polyfest shock News Otago Polyfest has missed out on multi-year funding from Creative New Zealand has sent a chill through the region’s arts community. It comes hard on the heels of the news Dunedin Arts Festival funding has also been axed. Around the province, thousands of young people will be practising for next month’s five-day Polyfest, an event which has flourished in the last 33 years. Anyone who has experienced the thrill of participating in Otago Polyfest or watching with pride and awe the vibrant and stirring performances will be shocked at the news funding for next year’s event is in doubt. We agree with the view arts are much more than a nice-to-have, perhaps more than ever when times are tough, and events which have such wide community and cultural involvement deserve better. As the co-chair of Te Mana Āhua Ake Charitable Trust (which organises polyfest) Ange Kiore says, communities need a funding system that recognises the true value of long-term cultural mahi and provides the consistent, meaningful resourcing required to sustain them.
