Feds: Unitary council model future-fit, with less upheaval
Separating rural and provincial governance from urban councils is the simplest and most effective way to streamline local government, Federated Farmers says.
"Top marks to the Government for kicking off an overdue conversation about cutting back costs, duplication and decision-making roadblocks that plague our current 78 councils," Sandra Faulkner, Feds local government spokesperson, says.
With release of plans this week to abolish regional councils, the Government wants less bureaucracy and strengthened accountability.
"So does Federated Farmers," Faulkner says, "but we have a different model that achieves those aims without the need to totally re-write local government legislation.
"Spurred by rising rates, and a diminishing say by rural communities in council matters, Federated Farmers has given these issues a great deal of thought over the last two decades.
"Our model would see a decrease in the total number of local authorities from 78 to fewer than half that."
New Zealand already has six unitary authorities - councils that perform the functions of both district/city and regional councils - in Auckland, Gisborne, Marlborough, Nelson, Tasman and the Chatham Islands.
"They achieve the single layer of local government Ministers Bishop and Watts are striving for.
"But it doesn't work optimally when city areas and rural hinterlands with a cluster of smaller towns are jammed in together under one council," Faulkner says.
"Greater numbers of people live in cities. They have different needs, priorities and ways of interacting with their council than people and business in rural areas.
"Cities can end up dominating unitary councils, and the ambitions of people in provincial towns and rural areas are sidelined."
Feds is suggesting a unitary structure that separates provincial and rural governance (regional government) from urban governance (municipal councils).
Each council would take on current regional council responsibilities, and current regional councils would no longer exist as separate entities.
Some areas have grasped the practicality and advantages of this set-up, and are already well down the track to taking it up.
In Southland, there's a proposal in front of the Local Government Commission for an urban focused authority (Invercargill) and one district-focused authority, incorporating Gore and Southland District Councils.
Environment Southland would no longer exist, meaning four current councils become two.
"Calls for Wairarapa's three councils to amalgamate, and take up the responsibilities of Greater Wellington Regional Council in their own area, are growing louder," Faulkner says.
"This dovetails with their move to jointly set up their own three waters entity with Tararua under Local Water Done Well - another aspect that works well with the future model of local government Feds wants to see.
"Combined district councils are better placed financially and staff-resource wise to keep delivering stormwater, drinking water and wastewater treatment services in-house."
In Canterbury, eight councils could become three: a Christchurch City based municipal council and North and South regional councils, each taking on the functions currently done by Environment Canterbury.
Federated Farmers agrees with the Government that decisions on future council structures should be driven locally, by elected representatives.
"But we see problems with completely removing current regional councillors and leaving it up to Combined Territories Boards (CTBs) of mayors to decide the future shape of councils.
"That's a lot of regional councillor experience walking out the door on the eve of the Government introducing its overhauled resource management legislation - crucial to livelihoods and the environment.
"If voting on the CTBs is based on size of population represented by each mayor, it also risks rural and provincial concerns being sidelined," Faulkner says.
Federated Farmers says there's a lack of detail in the Government discussion papers about future delivery of functions currently done by regional councils.
"The likes of flooding, drainage scheme and emergency management are lifeline tasks.
"We can't just throw loose ideas at the wall on future delivery in the hope something sticks."
Some existing regional council boundaries are too big to be governed by just one unitary council, Faulkner says.
"We think there's also room for catchment boards and community boards to take up specialised roles and preserve local input."
Faulkner says the model Federated Farmers is suggesting would be a smoother transition to the streamlined and efficient sector the Government - and New Zealanders - are looking for.
"Again, congratulations to the Government for sparking these overdue conversations.
"Federated Farmers and rural communities are champing at the bit to be involved in landing a structure that preserves strong local democracy and accountability, is future-fit and less costly."