Three months is a very short time when it comes to any kind of reform in local government. However, that is the period that central government has given local councils across New Zealand to examine their structure and come up with options more streamlined, effective and sustainable in the future. This is a huge task.
We can’t afford the current structures in terms of cost, efficiency and energy. So, it’s time to cease all of that and find a leaner pathway. It is about cutting out double checking and the double ups. It is about trimming inefficiencies and being more productive. It is about making government simpler and taking some risks to create a new thing.
The priorities of our democracy remain – the wellbeing of our people; the wellbeing of our environment and the wellbeing of our relationship with other communities, regions and nations.
Pages 8 and 9 in this issue of The Informer – present two valuable opinions. The first is by Geoffrey Robinson, a local and very experienced journalist on local government reform and the second piece is from the Chair of Mercury Bay Community Board, Richard Shelford-Woodcock.
Every resident should at least discuss these with a friend or neighbour. Having a say in our future is NOT a thing of the past.
The Waikato Regional Council is under the microscope. So are the Department of Conservation and our two local councils, Thames Coromandel District Council and Hauraki which sits across the base of the Coromandel. This journey is about forming working relationships with other local and regional bodies to enable a long-term productive future – out of commonality in nature and economy and/or what makes geographical boundary sense. There is also the option to create a more ‘stand on our own’ network.
I am travelling just now. I thought I had done enough travel, both for work and leisure. Doing it without Stan is the first time in 47 years. However, it’s going okay. Seeing different villages and communities at work – sharing food, selling their wares, building houses, growing food, educating their young – making life happen, is a constant reminder that every community has to somehow make things work for their people, wherever we are in the world.
The hometown I grew up in once had a thriving township. Our town of about 20,000 and the surrounding region were faced with the exercise we are facing regarding local and regional councils. The decision finally made that included my hometown shire was a joining together of three districts to make one super effective suburban region. This decision and outworking of it brought electric railway to my hometown – perfect for commuters to Brisbane. Housing projects also began, and a big mall was built a few kilometres out of our township. An industrial and business park emerged – encouraging businesses to move out of the big city to the suburbs.
It all worked. The big centres with the big projects have grown larger. The population has more than doubled. A large hospital has just opened.
However, the town centre of my hometown has died. The commuters avoid the closed shops and the main street is largely deserted. There are no cafes, no retail, homeless members of society hover in the closed shop entrances; vape shops and massage parlours have moved into some of the empty spaces. There is no community.
No one knows what to do to get their town back or to whom they can address this issue. Local government has disappeared to a lofty region somewhere beyond the local ability to communicate concerns and change things. There is no community voice. The welfare of the people has been slowly diminished, and they have no say in the welfare of their environment.
People generally know things are not right, but they have become disengaged from making decisions and don’t have a relationship with those who are making decisions.
The biggest building in my hometown at one end of the very sad town centre is the regional council building. It dwarfs everything except for the district Court.
This didn’t have to happen, but it did. Whatever reform we adopt, local communities must determine their own future.
