Govt announces Environment Canterbury review team
Hon Dr Nick Smith
Minister for the Environment
Hon
Rodney Hide
Minister of Local Government
16 November
2009
Media Statement
Govt announces Environment Canterbury review team
Environment Minister Nick Smith and Local Government Minister Rodney Hide today announced the members of the review team that will investigate Environment Canterbury’s poor performance.
“Last month we announced that the Government was not satisfied with Environment Canterbury's performance and that an external review was necessary to fix the Council’s problems,” Dr Smith and Mr Hide said.
“The areas of concern are the processing of resource consents on time, developing a proper framework for managing Canterbury's natural resources, and the management of relationships with Canterbury's territorial local authorities.
“The first component of the review is under Section 24A of the Resource Management Act, looking into Environment Canterbury's resource management functions. The second is a non-statutory assessment of Environment Canterbury's governance and policy functions under the Local Government Act."
Dr Smith said former Deputy Prime Minister Wyatt Creech would oversee the RMA investigation working with Doug Martin of MartinJenkins and Associates and independent consultant Greg Hill.
Mr Hide said the review of Environment Canterbury’s governance, policy functions and relationships with other councils would be done by civil engineer Doug Lowe, consultant Julie Clausen and economist Alison Dalziel.
Both reviews start at Environment Canterbury today and are due to be completed by Friday 4 December. The report is due with the Ministers in January 2010.
“These appointments and the review timetable have been discussed with Environment Canterbury,” the Ministers said.
Biographies of review team
Wyatt Creech
(independent consultant)
Rt Hon Wyatt Creech is an
experienced business man, with knowledge in farming, wine
production, and accounting. He was elected to parliament in
1988. He held office for 15 years representing the Wairarapa
and in that time held many senior portfolios for the
National Government including Leader of the House and Deputy
Prime Minister. Wyatt was a member of the Resource
Management Act Technical Advisory Group, is on the Board of
Directors of the Open Country Cheese Company and is chairman
of the Board of the Kaimai Cheese Company Ltd.
Doug
Martin
Director, MartinJenkins and Associates. Doug was
appointed by the State Services Commission to be one of
three Lead Assessors for the purpose of piloting the new
Performance Improvement Framework that will be applied to
State Sector Agencies. Doug was appointed because of his
experience and credibility. Doug also conducted a culture
review of Auckland City Council for the Mayor, Hon John
Banks, and more recently conducted a value for money review
of the Department of Corrections. He will be working with
his associate Nigel Bradly.
Greg Hill
Greg is a
RMA consultant. He has approximately 25 years experience and
is also an independent commissioner. He has been employed by
Territorial Authorities, Regional Councils and Central
Government. Greg was the General Manager of Policy and
Planning at Auckland Regional Council.
Doug
Low
Doug is a founding director of Morrison Low and a
civil engineer with significant experience in managing major
infrastructure and development projects, procurement in a
government/local government setting, strategic and general
management and organisational change. He has held senior
management positions in large public bodies and has a track
record of getting results using practical solutions while
retaining a strategic view.
Julie Clausen
Julie has
considerable experience providing both strategic and
operational financial advice to Local Government. As the
manager of the financial team and business leader for
revenue and rate funding of a large regional council, Julie
has developed an extensive knowledge of local government
financial requirements. As a consultant Julie has assisted
councils, both in New Zealand and Australia, with financial
strategy and funding policy development and in particular
the development of Long Term Financial Strategies.
Alison
Dalziel
Alison is an economist with more than 20 years of
experience in central and local government. Her background
includes policy and strategy, finance, corporate planning,
economic development, urban development, and sector and
regional development. Alison has worked in several central
government departments and metropolitan councils in a
variety of senior management
roles.
ENDS