Strong Support For Waimakariri Water Plan

Tuesday, 13 May 2025, 6:21 pm
Article: David Hill - Local Democracy Reporter

Community feedback has been ‘‘overwhelmingly in favour’’ of the Waimakariri District Council going it alone on its future water plan, Mayor Dan Gordon says.

The council consulted on its proposal as part of its 2025/26 annual plan, with around 680 of the 787 submissions on the water proposal.

The response compared to the council receiving 330 submissions for last year’s 2024/34 Long Term Plan.

Mr Gordon said 97.2 percent of the submissions supported the council’s preferred option of establishing a stand-alone business unit within the council to manage water services.

‘‘We wrote to every household, giving the options and providing links for more information,’’ he said.

‘‘We needed a clear direction from residents, so now we can submit our proposal by September 3.’’

Councils need to submit water services delivery plans for review by September 3 under the Government’s Local Water Done Well reform programme.

The legislation aims to address the country's water infrastructure challenges and replaced the previous Government’s Three Waters reform.

As part of the annual plan consultation, residents were also asked to provide feedback on the council’s transport programme, the council’s rating policy and its development contributions policy.

Councillors heard from just 23 submitters at a hearing in Kaiapoi last week.

The council is due to meet again on May 27 to resume its annual plan deliberations, before the final adoption in June.

It is proposing an average rate rise of 4.98%.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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