Kawerau has joined Ōpōtiki in delaying public consultation on a pivotal decision about the future of water services delivery.

Kawerau District Council cited significant legislative uncertainty from the Government – in particular, the delaying of its Simplifying Local Government changes – as the reason for pushing the pause button on a shared water service with Rotorua Lakes, Whakatāne and Ōpōtiki district councils.

Mayor Faylene Tunui said that, before seeking the opinions of Kawerau residents, she wanted a clearer idea of the makeup of any future council-controlled organisation (CCO) for water services.

“The Simplifying Local Government conversation, that is the kaupapa nui, that is the main event.

“To blindly continue on, ignoring the new context ... I’m not sure that serves our community.

“Before we commit to board arrangements, governance arrangements, representative arrangements, let’s understand who’s actually representing the community.”

Last week, the Cabinet announced that the decision about whether to accept Head Start proposals, including a plan to form an Eastern Bay unitary council, would be delayed until after next month’s general election.

Kawerau council chief executive Morgan Godfery said the Head Start and wider Simplifying Local Government reforms were crucial to the immediate decision about water services.

“The outcome of those decisions will impact what the makeup of any hypothetical CCO is,” Godfery said.

Kawerau was the last of the four district councils that had jointly commissioned a report from consultants MartinJenkins on a shared water service to face this decision.

The report projected that, over 30 years, the councils would benefit from forming a joint water services council-controlled organisation (WSCCO), with more than $300 million to be saved across the four councils.

Godfery said that receiving the report discharged the commitment to investigate a joint water service made in the Water Services Delivery Plan submitted to the former Department of Internal Affairs last year.

“Now the report has arrived, the decision is whether to consult.”

The three other councils had already made their decisions, each choosing a different path.

Ōpōtiki District Council decided to delay consultation pending a decision on the Eastern Bay unitary council Head Start proposal submitted to the Government in August.

Whakatāne District Council opted to consult its community on its preferred option to form the WSCCO, and Rotorua Lakes chose to consult on continuing to deliver its water services in-house.

Tunui instructed council management staff to make the more than 200 pages of the MartinJenkins report publicly available.

“It is only fair that Kawerau is able to see this report, because it belongs to Kawerau. It is about Kawerau’s assets. It is about Kawerau’s infrastructure.”

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.