Opposition to local government reforms voiced

Councils from across the country are today voicing their strong opposition to reforms which would threaten local democracy and the ongoing viability of some councils if enacted.

The Local Government and Environment select committee is hearing final submissions on the Local Government Act Amendment Bill, which would see the power to create Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) without the need to get support from councils and their communities handed to the Government.

To support Local Government New Zealand’s submission on the Bill more than 15 mayors, chairs and councillors of regional, city and district councils from around New Zealand travelled to be in Wellington today.

LGNZ, which represents all of New Zealand’s 78 councils, says of greatest concern to its members is the possibility of CCOs being mandatorily created from Wellington.

LGNZ President Lawrence Yule says the Bill poses a real threat to local democracy and the future of communities.

“It takes away a level of democracy. For smaller councils there is a real risk that larger entities that are forced on them will mean a loss of staff, and those smaller communities are ones we are really concerned about,” Mr Yule says.

“If you take the critical mass of water and roading away from councils you are taking a major part of what they do away. If you are a small council you would be left with no critical mass and then they say should we actually merge somehow, and that is where you get into amalgamation by stealth.”

“When you give another entity the ability to fundamentally change most of the major services like roading or transport into a CCO, you can’t help but see there will be any other consequence but structural change over time.”

“These are decisions that should be made by local people and local communities together.”

LGNZ’s submission followed those from the Canterbury Mayoral Forum and the Otago Regional Council, which also oppose the Bill as it stands now. In total 60 councils have written submissions and many appeared before the select committee.

“This is one of the biggest single threats to local democracy we have faced,” Mr Yule says.

“We are really concerned about it, this is a big deal for us and all we want is for the Government to address this concern around the CCOs as a bare minimum.”

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