Go Alone Approach for Future Water Delivery

By John Freer

With the withdrawal of two partners in the proposed future water management for Thames Coromandel, the local council will now be going it alone.

The surprise decision came yesterday when both Western Bays District and Tauranga City Councils opted out of a potential three-way arrangement.

Co-incidentally all three councils were meeting at the same time – the matter was not on Thames Coromandel’s agenda, as councillors last month confirmed their decision.

Deputy Mayor Cr Terry Walker, who chaired yesterday’s meeting told CFM’s Rob Holding the council would revert to its plan b and go it alone.

He said council had the debt levels and infrastructure to go it alone, no problem at all, it was always the second option, it is just that the longer term benefits of a water services unit with the bigger group were much better.

Meanwhile council chief executive, Aileen Lawrie, said it was made clear from the beginning that they were well placed to continue to deliver water services in-house. She said the debt was relatively low and with water assets being in a good condition, going it alone was a viable option and met the legislative requirements.

She said council ran through a rigorous process to examine all the options and that the prospective Tauranga, Western Bay of Plenty and Thames-Coromandel entity was the best.

“We recognise the challenges councils face and each of our obligations and commitments to do right by our respective communities,” Aileen said.

The decisions come after more than a year of research, analysis, and consultation as to which Local Waters Done Well options would serve respective communities best.

While the joint WSO option was favoured by 51 percent of submitters during consultation with communities, 46 percent said they preferred an internal water services unit.

Council will now proceed to develop a Water Services Delivery Plan based on an internal water services unit and we will continue to explore other service delivery options in the future.

Under the Local Water Done Well reform, all councils need to present a Water Services Delivery Plan – outlining how it will deliver its future water services – to the Department of Internal Affairs by September 3 this year.

TCDC is expected to make its final decision on the future Water Services Delivery Plan when it meets on August 20, prior to submission to the Department of Internal Affairs by the above deadline.