New Zealand’s first regional deal will be finalised by next year - Simeon Brown

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown with PM Christopher Luxon. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Government will invite up to five regions to provide proposals for regional deals before the first one is finalised by next year.

Regional deals are long-term agreements between local government and central government based on a 30-year vision with negotiated 10-year strategic plans.

The Government’s three priority areas for these deals are economic growth and productivity, critical infrastructure, and affordable, quality housing. Deals will initially focus on projects which support these objectives.

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has revealed more about the framework for regional deals at the Local Government New Zealand conference being held in Wellington this week.

“We will only finalise deals with regions that are focused on the basics,” Brown told council leaders.

This echoed the sentiment expressed by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the conference yesterday.

Luxon hit back at councils demanding more funding and support from central government while avoiding tightening their own belts.

Ratepayers did not expect to pay for the “laundry list of distractions and experiments that are plaguing council balance sheets across the country”, Luxon said.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau said Luxon’s speech missed the opportunity to talk about how shared problems could be solved and she accused him of punching down.

Brown told the conference today that local government and central government had previously often passed like ships in the night.

“Regional deals mark a historic shift for New Zealand to come together to establish a clear plan.”

Brown announced Cabinet has agreed to a staged approach for rolling out regional deals around the country.

“The Government will invite up to five regions to provide straightforward basic proposals for a Regional Deal. I’ve made my expectations clear to councils that we are not interested in seeing ratepayers’ money spent on extravagant proposal documents”, Brown said.

“We will consider these proposals before finalising New Zealand’s first regional deal in 2025.”

Brown warned these proposals should not be “glossy documents” and that people have had enough of phantom projects and non-delivery.

The first five regions selected for deals will be based on criteria including councils being in a high-growth area and having a track record of working successfully with central government, other councils in the region, the private sector and iwi.

The Government will look at options to support deals like enabling new user charges, value capture, targeted rates, tolling and congestion charging as well as a share of GST for local government for new housing.

The first deals will include a limited number of five projects. Once a deal is finalised, an oversight body will be established with independent chairs.

Each deal will have performance indicators against which progress can be assessed regularly.

LGNZ president Sam Broughton welcomed the move and said local government was ready to work collaboratively.

“In May, LGNZ released a draft proposal for what city and regional deals should look like. We’re pleased to see partnership, new funding tools and a commitment to long-term planning, which were in our proposal, also included in the Government’s framework.”

LGNZ’s proposal also said there must be increased trust and partnership between local and central government.

Asked whether Luxon’s comments yesterday were a good place to start rebuilding that trust, Broughton said: “It’s good to hear what the Prime Minister thinks of local government. It’s good to have that direction but in the end, local government is accountable to its communities.”

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.