Westland District Council firmly rejected reforming the structure of Three Waters in Westland at their meeting on Thursday 30 September based on the current information available from Government, but left the door open to further consideration of the matter if more specific information becomes available. All Councils around New Zealand had eight weeks to consider the proposal, the effects on their business and communities and provide feedback to the government about their proposal.

“When we spoke to our community, the majority was very strongly against the Three Waters Reform, and we will be communicating that to the Government,” advises Westland Mayor Bruce Smith. “The key reasons that people want us to opt-out are:

· Submitters wanted three water services managed, built and operated locally, by people who understand the area.

· Submitters don’t believe the reform will improve efficiencies.

· There were concerns their community won’t have a strong democratic say in how their three waters services are provided.

· The community is concerned their rates will fund upgrades in other areas.

As Councillors, we have made a commitment to listen to the community and take their lead in things that matter to them. The amount of feedback that we received about the reform shows that this is something that matters very much to Westland residents."

"Alongside that, Councillors are not convinced that the proposed model provides the best outcomes for our District and this was why we unanimously voted for Councillor Martin’s Notice of Motion against opting-in. We know that neither the Council nor the community have enough information to make a fully informed decision based on what the government has told us so far. Our analysis has not proved the benefits that the Government claims and we need more detail before we could confidently say that this proposal would benefit our communities. Based on that, we would seek to opt-out of the reform if a decision is required by the government.”

Notes

The livestream of the Council meeting is available here, with the 3 waters discussion from about 3.08hr: https://youtu.be/OUns-hI79qU

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