Local Government and Environment Select Committee

The Tasman District Council has made a submission on the recently announced proposed Local Government law reforms to the Local Government and Environment Select Committee. The submission draws on the experience and knowledge gained through the recent amalgamation debate.

It is not, however, solely a Tasman view. The same views are shared nationally, especially regarding the proposed change in the purpose of local government and the limiting of peoples’ ability to have a say in how they are governed.

The proposed reforms are purported to be designed to enable councils to contribute more to the Government’s economic growth agenda. This is an ideal all would support, however, in their current form the reforms are more likely to constrain rather than enable a council’s role in local economic development.

The overall view within the submission to the Select Committee, regardless of the merits of the Bill, is that in its current form the Bill will not enable the Government to deliver what it is trying to achieve. The Council considers the reforms to be anecdotally driven, the supposed problems have not been adequately identified and there is no robust evidence the solutions proposed will achieve the objective the Government is seeking.

To download a pdf of the draft submission go to www.tasman.govt.nz/link/lga.