Northland’s Whangarei District Council, Kaipara District Council and Far North District Council have established a cross-Council working group to explore potential future water delivery collaboration between the organisations.
The move follows the introduction of the Coalition Government’s ‘Local Water Done Well’ programme, which was set up to address the nation’s long-standing water infrastructure challenges. It empowers Councils to decide how they will deliver water services, while meeting increased regulations, supporting growth and being financially sustainable. It encourages Councils to work with neighbouring districts on solutions that could benefit the larger region.
Mayor of Whangārei and Chair of the newly established ‘Northland Water Services Working Group’, Vince Cocurullo said each of the region’s district Councils had completed formal consultation with the community where options were proposed for how drinking, waste and storm water services should be delivered in the future.
He said consultations indicated that in Whangārei there was a clear preference for keeping its water services in-house with increased collaboration with the other Northland Councils, while Kaipara’s results were in favour of a Northland Council Controlled Organisation (CCO), and Far North showed preference for a strengthened in-house model with improvements to delivery, governance, compliance and financial management.
“While options and preferences in each district vary, all of us are committed to getting around the table and evaluating the opportunities of working together and solving some of the challenges we all experience,” said Mayor Cocurullo.
The Northland Water Services Working Group is made up of elected members from each Council, supported by their staff. Representatives from the Department of Internal Affairs and an independent advisor will attend each meeting, and the working group will make recommendations to each Council for decision making later this year.
Elected members of the Northland Water Services Working Group are as follows:
- Far North District Council: Mayor Moko Tepania, Councillor Ann Court and Councillor John Vujcich;
- Whangarei District Council: Mayor Vince Cocurullo, Deputy Mayor Phil Halse and Councillor Ken Couper;
- Kaipara District Council: Mayor Craig Jepson, Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen and Councillor Rachael Williams.
“Whangārei, Kaipara and Far North District Councils have been working together to model the financials for a Northland CCO so that option could be included for consultation,” said Mayor Cocurullo.
“All three District Councils are committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability, efficiency and regulatory compliance of water services in Northland. With the community’s feedback, we are able to do further investigations on collaborative opportunities, such as the viability of shared or managed services, or a Northland CCO.”
Each District Council is required to submit their water service delivery plan to Central Government before 3 September.
More information about Local Water Done Well and the results of each Council’s consultation can be found below.
Whangarei District Council: https://www.wdc.govt.nz/Services/Water-services/Local-Water-Done-Well.
Kaipara District Council: https://www.kaipara.govt.nz/local-water-done-well.
Far North District Council: https://www.fndc.govt.nz/whats-new/current-projects/local-water-done-well.
