North Shore City Council submission to the Local Government Act reforms

In its submission to the Local Government Act Amendment Bill, the North Shore City Council calls for continued engagement and consultation with local communities, and rejects any measures which could lead to privatisation of council services, says Mayor Andrew Williams.

He says that his councillors support some of the measures in the Bill, particularly those which make local government processes more transparent.

The main points of the council submission are:

The council supports the aim of the Bill to strengthen the transparency and accountability of local government. However, councillors question whether the Bill provides the mechanism to achieve this. The council believes that while the Bill seeks to simplify reporting requirements in some areas, it adds to the reporting process in others.

The council is concerned about the Bill’s focus on a small set of local authority core activities, as what is core for one community may be of lesser concern for another. Rather than trying to straight-jacket all local authorities into focusing on the same set of core activities, communities should have the opportunity to decide for themselves (through a consultation process) the activities and services that their councils provide.

Despite assurances from the Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide, the council believes that the Bill sets the scene for considerable private sector involvement in water services. The North Shore City Council’s position has consistently been that water and wastewater services should always remain in public ownership and control.

ENDS

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