Mayor proposes new local government structure

Southland District Mayor Rob Scott is proposing a change to the structure of local government in Southland, saying “it’s time now to have this conversation.”

Mr Scott is putting forward a proposal to create two unitary authorities in Southland, rather than the present four councils.

“Four councils are too many for a population of 100,000 – there’s a lot of efficiencies we can do by merging together and preliminary estimates show $10 million a year can be saved,’ he said.

“Simply put, a structural reform proposal led by Southland District for the benefit of the community it serves along with other communities in Southland is required. This is likely to involve stepping away from what has traditionally been adopted in Southland and looking elsewhere in the country where an alternative model to two tiers of local government within a region has been operating successfully.”

One unitary authority would be district-based, and would be made up of the Southland and Gore districts, along with regional council functions for that area, while the other would be urban-based, and would include Invercargill City Council and regional council functions for it. This could see 20 fewer councillors, two fewer chief executives, two fewer mayors/chair, and two fewer long term plans.

One of the key principles for Southland District Council is the retention of a local voice, and empowering the community boards and river liaison committees to be able to do more through further delegations. It is also important to ensure the unique identity and characteristics of Gore are recognised.

“This proposal will reduce cost, improve efficiency, reduce complexity and keep the local in community decision-making. There’s also more alignment in catchments and the ability to have a one-stop shop for consenting.

“We need to lead the way and look for the right structure for Southland now, rather than wait for something to happen, which never does,” Mr Scott said.

“We, as the elected representatives of the people of Southland, need to hear the call for change and be brave enough to look at other local government models, such as unitary authorities, which have been done successfully in other parts of New Zealand,” he said.

In particular, there are a lot of similarities between Nelson and Tasman unitary authorities and what could be happen here in the south, as Tasman is rural, with environmental issues to manage, and Nelson is principally urban with a different set of issues to cover.

Mr Scott does not believe a single unitary authority for all of Southland would work as there are totally different communities of interest in district and urban communities and so priorities would not align.

The work that has been done so far is preliminary and a lot more is needed, as is a lot of discussions, debate and conversations across the councils and across the province, he said.

Economics and efficiency are important in evaluation of a new local government structure, and so is the communities of interest that are identified, protected and ideally enhanced in this reorganisation proposal.

“It won’t be an overnight thing – there’s a lot of work to be done before it even goes to the Local Government Commission for a decision.

“I felt I needed to put this out there to at least move us forward,” Mr Scott said.

“I hope that the next step will see representatives from all the councils sit down and have a reasoned discussion looking at the advantages and disadvantages of this proposal. We also need to have conversations with iwi and other key stakeholders along with all of our communities to ensure everyone in Southland is part of the process,” he said.