Environment Canterbury chair Deon Swiggs says three months is not enough time to bring Canterbury communities along with the Government’s local government reforms.

“The one thing that I’m really worried about if we try and do this too quickly is leaving our communities behind because there are communities who need to have a voice in this process,” he says.

ECan has been preparing for two to three years since the Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms were announced, he says.

Under the backstop process, a transitional governance body of mayors and some appointed people would replace elected regional councillors while structural changes are put in place, with the shape of that process to be designed in 2027.

“There’s fighting words from the government and then there’s the reality of what they’re putting down on words.”

Swiggs says he does not know whether the change will produce fewer jobs.

“The work still needs to be done. There is nothing changing in legislation about the flood management work, the biosecurity, the biodiversity.”

Swiggs says a split between an urban Christchurch unitary authority and a separate rural authority is a live possibility. The Government has made clear, he says, that catchment-scale delivery of regional functions is the right approach and that urban and rural communities need to be served appropriately.

Swiggs says existing consents will transfer to the new entity, and that RMA reforms running in parallel will mean fewer consents are required. The two processes need to run simultaneously, he says.

“We need to make sure that we have stability so that we don’t lose our productivity in our markets.”

ECan is having conversations about the Waitaki district, Swiggs says. It straddles the Canterbury-Otago boundary, and its significance for water management and energy generation down the Waitaki River means no regional boundaries are sacrosanct.

“Are we going back to the future here, around town and country kind of councils, or are we moving into something slightly different?

“That’s a conversation that I think we’re going to have to have quite quickly.”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show, livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.