Selwyn Water Reforms Too ‘Rushed’

Wednesday, 19 March 2025, 7:52 pm
Article: Jonathan Leask - Local Democracy Reporter

The Rolleston Residents' Association has accused the council of "making a farce" of the consultation process for the future of Selwyn's water management.

Selwyn District Council is looking at creating a Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) to manage its water infrastructure.

The Government's new water reform policy - Local Water Done Well - allows councils to set up CCOs which can borrow more than individual councils are able to on their own.

After a three-week public consultation, Selwyn's council received 423 submissions, and 30 submitters have asked to be heard at the hearing on Thursday [March 20].

The mayor says the community has been given options to submit in writing and at the hearing.

But Rolleston Residents' Association chairperson Mark Alexander said the council is “making a farce of the consultation”.

“It is the most significant financial issue facing this council and the community for the next decade.

“A three-week consultation and five minutes speaking time at a hearing in a single afternoon is just disrespectful to the community.”

Alexander said he believed the council was simply going through the motions having already made up its mind.

“It’s not sending the right message, or showing the due care or attention the community deserves.

“They are there to represent us. How can they if we don’t get the opportunity to hear from the community?”

Councils have until September 3 to submit their Water Services Delivery Plan to the Minister of Local Government.

“The Government is forcing councils to do this in a rush.

“Selwyn is not doing it well and the community is getting shafted.”

Alexander said he sent a letter to Selwyn Mayor Sam Broughton raising the concerns about the process and requesting submitters be given 10 minutes during the hearing.

In a letter back to the Rolleston Residents' Association, Broughton’s response was that the council had opted for a mid-range consultation process – “a midpoint between the governments light-touch and our longer LTP consultation”.

“The advice we as council received from legal was that the government wants this to be a light touch consultation with no special consultative procedure or hearings required,” Broughton said in the letter.

“We thought this was inadequate and didn’t meet community expectation so gave options for the community to submit both in written form and in hearings if desired.”

Broughton also suggested the wrong template was sent to some submitters, which caused confusion as it “was always intended to be five minutes”.

“I think we can clearly hear the views of submitters in the allotted time and respect the time that the public have put into sharing their thoughts with us both in written submissions and in person [this] week.”

In its consultation document, the Selwyn council said a CCO allowed for greater borrowing capacity than council alone, allowing for essential infrastructure investment without sudden rate hikes.

The rates the council currently takes for drinking and waste water would be removed from its balance sheet and shifted to the Water Services CCO, along with any debt.

Alexander said Selwyn could continue to manage water services in house, until they have to set up a CCO.

“The cost of the CCO will raise rates and charges considerably with a promise to ‘trust us it will get lower in 10 years’ -the same promise councils make every long-term plan but rates keep creeping up.

“The CCO gives no benefits to the district in the short term, at least none that the council have identified to the community,” Alexander said.

Meanwhile, the Ashburton District Council is poised to discuss proposing an in-house, stand-alone business unit to deliver water services in Mid Canterbury in the future at its meeting on today.

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

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