Local government reform could mean reshaping, not ditching, regional councils – Editorial

Wairarapa, with a relatively small population, has four district councils and a wider regional council. Photo / Getty Images

Editorial

• Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has floated the idea of scrapping regional councils, citing potential over-governance.
• NZ First minister Shane Jones also questioned the necessity of regional government.
• Regional councils manage critical resources, including land and water.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon floated the idea of scrapping our regional councils this week.

He did so while speaking on Newstalk ZB, when asked about his Government’s reforms of the Resource Management Act (RMA).

Luxon said it was his personal view that we should explore dumping the regional layer of government, but it also came after New Zealand First minister Shane Jones told a local government forum his party does not see a compelling case for maintaining it.

For a country of a little more than five million people, it is easy to argue that we are over-governed.

There are many examples of one town having a set of local laws and yet 20 minutes away, another town in a different region has another set.

We have all experienced frustrations after discovering a bylaw we didn’t know existed prevents us from having a particular plant in our garden, or how we can’t renovate our homes – or even how we are expected to pay for our rubbish collection in a different way.

But while it is clear we have too many government bodies, it is less certain how the ones we keep should be constructed.

Jones, speaking at last week’s forum, said there was “less and less of a justifiable purpose for maintaining regional government” after the expected RMA reforms.

But is there another way to look at the problem?

New Zealand has 11 regional councils.

They often perform critical roles in managing our natural resources, most notably land and water. They also help support biodiversity and build resilience to natural hazards such as severe weather events. The other things, such as local roads and pipes, are left to the district councils.

Perhaps it is at this district level that there is a greater need for reform. Perhaps in wider urban areas, these should be amalgamated into a greater regional council – as Auckland did in 2010.

We have 67 territorial authorities around the country. If remove Auckland and it’s 1.7 million people, then some back of the napkin maths suggest we have a governing body for every 53,000 Kiwis.

Take our often-maligned capital as an example, would it be better to have one Wellington body representing the entire region, rather than the several smaller urban councils – and the regional council?

Just over the Remutaka Hill, while still in the greater Wellington region, we have even more governance for even fewer people. The good folk of South Wairarapa, Carterton, Masterton and even up to Tararua are all governed differently.

There are 550,000 people living in the greater Wellington region, which, when viewed collectively, is enough for the area to thrive and build for the future. But when broken up into several pieces, as we have done, there are simply not enough people to foot the bills.

TVNZ’s Q+A reported last year how this plays out; Martinborough and Greytown had not been able to connect any new-build homes to the at-capacity local sewerage network.

See the problem? Not enough ratepayers with no ability to add more to pay for much-needed infrastructure.

We may be nearing a possible solution to some of these issues, with Minister for RMA Reform Chris Bishop expected to bring a bill before the House before the end of the year.

This is a chance for this Government to set its legacy and reshape how we are governed at a local level. Get it right and it’ll be praised for generations to come.

Entire community futures depend on it being a success, as Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton highlighted in a column for the Herald earlier this month – the burden on local ratepayers is already too great.

Perhaps keeping regional councils but changing the model is a way of easing that burden.

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