Central Hawke’s Bay Councillors voted unanimously to remain at the table for the next stages of the design of a Regional Water Services Council-Controlled Organisation in Hawke’s Bay under the Government’s Local Water Done Well policy.

Deliberations were held to consider the community’s submissions on three options, a Regional CCO with our Hawke’s Bay councils, in-house delivery, and a standalone CCO, and the views heard during the five-week consultation period.

“Now’s the time we need to sit at the table with Government and our regional partners to ensure the challenges of the district’s three waters infrastructure are turned into opportunities for generations to come,”Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Alex Walker said.

From the submissions it was clear that those residents connected to and paying for water, supported change to the Regional CCO the most – it’s this group of people that are most impacted, she said.

“But we also recognise this is a complex issue of ownership, control, Government reach, trust, confidence, as well as affordability.

“We’ve listened to these points, and they helped strengthen our response. Your voices have armed us with the support for clear advocacy in the region and to push back at Government policy, and how to better right-size our investment.

“Addressing the challenges of our water infrastructure is one of the most significant – if not the most significant issue for this district. We have been advocating to Government, and anyone who will listen that the system is broken and must change to support districts like ours," Walker said.

“I have called on Local Government Minister Simon Watts, imploring him to consider changes that would benefit smaller rural communities, including Central Hawke’s Bay.”

Local Water Done Well isn’t the silver bullet for making water services delivery affordable in Central Hawke’s Bay. However, it begins to address the wider challenges with water services delivery in New Zealand, said Chief Executive Central Hawke’s Bay District Council Doug Tate.

Council will continue working to understand how it can make the investment options more affordable, he said.

“The hard reality is that this won’t come without its risks or trade-offs to the resilience and performance of our networks.

“Nothing about what we need to do is new. We have been highlighting the challenges and need for major investment in our infrastructure since 2017. The regular water shutdowns our community face are a reminder of the investment required for our ageing infrastructure.

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