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Resolution
number HW/2022/100
MOVED by Member B Wichman, seconded by Deputy Chairperson
J Spiller:
That
the Howick Local Board:
a) provide
the following feedback:
i) the board is strongly opposed to the Water
Services Entities Bill for the following reasons:
A) the Bill strips away local decision making.
B) the perceived cost benefit analysis for this
plan is unrealistic. It is obvious that communities with good water services
will end up subsidising their poorer-performing neighbours. Consumers water
bills will end up funding water infrastructure in totally different regions.
C) the Bill enables the disestablishment of the
current publicly-owned water entities, to be replaced with the establishment
of a larger bureaucracy which would take control of drinking water, wastewater
and stormwater infrastructure across Aotearoa New Zealand, stripping control
from our local communities.
D) bundling assets into mega-entities is putting
community control at arm’s length and does nothing to de-escalate costs
– similar to the creation of Auckland Council 12 years ago.
E) the new entity would be spread over hundreds
of kilometres and made up of a complex mix of appointees and bureaucrats.
Councils would have token representation, alongside iwi, in appointing
decision-makers.
F) Councils’ ownership rights would be
confused and unclear, and water services will become less accessible to the
public.
G) 77% of submissions supported and agreed that
Auckland Council should stay accountable to the public and water be
controlled by a council controlled organisation.
ii) the Board supports Auckland Council’s
submission from the 23rd September meeting, including the Mayor’s
Minority Report opposing the Water Services Entity Bill.
iii) the Board supports Mayor Goff speaking to the
submission at the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee.
iv) the Board believes that Auckland already has a
well-functioning CCO model that should be shared with the Waikato and up
North to implement this in an efficient and timely manner.
CARRIED
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