Selwyn_Times: May 11, 2022

Wednesday May 11 2022 Selwyn Times
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
NEWS 3
In Brief
• By Jonathan Leask
MAYOR SAM Broughton says
ratepayers may end up carrying
the burden of funding other
councils’ infrastructure under
the Three Waters reforms.
The latest announcement
made April 29 from Local
Government Minister Nanaia
Mahuta and Minister for Infrastructure
Grant Robertson failed
to impress both
Broughton and
fellow Canterbury
mayor
Neil Brown
of Ashburton
District.
The ministers
Sam
Broughton
solidified the
governance
structure for
the proposed reforms by announcing
acceptance of the
majority of a working group’s
recommendations, including
council shareholding and cogovernance.
The two mayors remain
concerned their ratepayers won’t
benefit from the Three Waters
reforms and will instead be left
to subsidise other communities.
Broughton was pleased to see
the Government had listened to
a working group’s recommendations,
but said “the benefit to
Selwyn is yet to be proven.”
“What they are trying to do
for the country are things we
did in Selwyn five or six years
ago, so we will end up paying for
lots of things that will happen in
other places to begin with,” he
said.
Broughton criticised the
“pretty broad stroke” of assigning
shares based on population.
“It doesn’t take into account
the quality of infrastructure, the
number of resource consents
you hold, there is so much you
can get into,” he said.
What it does do, Broughton
said, was confirm council ownership.
Both mayors said the goal of
the reforms was not the issue,
rather the structure in which
it was proposed was what was
meeting opposition.
With some greater clarity
provided on the governance
structure, both mayors will be
keeping a close eye on the next
tranche of work which will
determine how the reforms will
operate and how the funding
model will work.
Three Waters funding concern
DROUGHT THREAT
Brown said the latest Three
Waters announcement still left
more questions than answers.
The main question was still if
Ashburton ratepayers would be
any better off, Brown said.
“The ratepayers using the
services, are they going to be any
better off under this [reform] – I
think not. The water will be the
same as what it has been, but
they’ll notice it in their bills they
get from three waters,” Brown
said.
“That higher bill will then go
to subsidising other communities.”
Brown said from the information
so far, the new entities
would have a higher borrowing
capacity and would double the
number of staff and contractors
doing the work.
“The numbers don’t appear to
stack up.”
Brown still believed the
Government needs to give
the drinking water regulator
– Taumata Arowai – time to
settle in and give councils an
indication of the scale of work
they faced, before moving to the
next phase.
The ministers suggested the
Government intends to surge
forward towards the previously
planned July 2024 handover.
– Jonathan Leask is a
Local Democracy Reporter
The threat of autumn drought
looms in eastern Selwyn,
following dry weather patterns
dominating throughout the
season. NIWA’s weekly Hotspot
Watch released on Friday
showed South Island hotspots
are currently located in coastal
Selwyn and Ashburton districts,
along with parts of southern
Canterbury and interior Otago.
Regions experiencing significant
soil moisture deficits are deemed
hotspots. Persistent hotspot
regions have the potential to
develop into drought.
HOUSE FIRE
Rodents chewing through
electrical wire insulation are
believed to be behind a house
fire at Motukarara. Occupants of
the renovated villa were alerted
to the fire in the roof by the
smell of smoke and activation
of smoke alarms. Lincoln
Volunteer Fire Brigade members
extinguished the blaze, about
9.30pm Tuesday last week. The
fire caused moderate damage
through the roof and ceiling.Fire
and Emergency New Zealand
specialist fire investigator Bruce
Irvine said the change of season
to winter could see more rodents
accessing roof spaces. “This is
the time of year people should be
baiting and preventing rodents
getting into their roofs,” he said.
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