Northland Councils Explore Collaborative Opportunities For Water Service Delivery
Northland's District Councils have each heard feedback from their communities on the future of water services delivery, and established a cross-Council working group to work through what collaboration across Councils could look like.
The Coalition Government's 'Local Water Done Well' programme has been established to address Aotearoa's long-standing water infrastructure challenges.
It empowers Councils to decide how they will deliver water services, while meeting increased regulations, supporting growth and being financially sustainable. It encourages Councils to work with neighbouring districts on solutions that could benefit the larger region.
Mayor of Whangārei and Chair of the newly established 'Northland Water Services Working Group', Vince Cocurullo said, 'Each Council has now completed formal consultation with the community where options were proposed for how drinking, waste and storm water services should be delivered in the future.'
Consultations indicated that in Whangārei there was a clear preference for keeping its water services in-house with increased collaboration with the other Northland Councils, while Kaipara's results were in favour of a Northland Council Controlled Organisation (CCO), and Far North showed preference for a strengthened in-house model with improvements to delivery, governance, compliance and financial management.
'While options and preferences in each district vary, all of us are committed to getting around the table and evaluating the opportunities of working together and solving some of the challenges we all experience,' said Mayor Cocurullo.
The Northland Water Services Working Group is made up of elected members from each Council, supported by their staff. Representatives from the Department of Internal Affairs and an independent advisor will attend each meeting, and the working group will make recommendations to each Council for decision making later this year.
'Whangārei, Kaipara and Far North District Councils have been working together to model the financials for a Northland CCO so that option could be included for consultation,' said Mayor Cocurullo.
'All three District Councils are committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability, efficiency and regulatory compliance of water services in Northland. With the community's feedback, we are able to do further investigations on collaborative opportunities, such as the viability of shared or managed services, or a Northland CCO.'
Each District Council is required to submit their water service delivery plan to Central Government before 3 September 2025.
More information about Local Water Done Well and the results of each Council's consultation can be found below.
Whangarei District Council: https://www.wdc.govt.nz/Services/Water-services/Local-Water-Done-Well
Kaipara District Council: https://www.kaipara.govt.nz/local-water-done-well
Far North District Council: https://www.fndc.govt.nz/whats-new/current-projects/local-water-done-well
Notes
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
3 hours ago
- Scoop
Northland Councils Explore Collaborative Opportunities For Water Service Delivery
Press Release – Whangarei District Council The Coalition Governments Local Water Done Well programme has been established to address Aotearoas long-standing water infrastructure challenges. Northland's District Councils have each heard feedback from their communities on the future of water services delivery, and established a cross-Council working group to work through what collaboration across Councils could look like. The Coalition Government's 'Local Water Done Well' programme has been established to address Aotearoa's long-standing water infrastructure challenges. It empowers Councils to decide how they will deliver water services, while meeting increased regulations, supporting growth and being financially sustainable. It encourages Councils to work with neighbouring districts on solutions that could benefit the larger region. Mayor of Whangārei and Chair of the newly established 'Northland Water Services Working Group', Vince Cocurullo said, 'Each Council has now completed formal consultation with the community where options were proposed for how drinking, waste and storm water services should be delivered in the future.' Consultations indicated that in Whangārei there was a clear preference for keeping its water services in-house with increased collaboration with the other Northland Councils, while Kaipara's results were in favour of a Northland Council Controlled Organisation (CCO), and Far North showed preference for a strengthened in-house model with improvements to delivery, governance, compliance and financial management. 'While options and preferences in each district vary, all of us are committed to getting around the table and evaluating the opportunities of working together and solving some of the challenges we all experience,' said Mayor Cocurullo. The Northland Water Services Working Group is made up of elected members from each Council, supported by their staff. Representatives from the Department of Internal Affairs and an independent advisor will attend each meeting, and the working group will make recommendations to each Council for decision making later this year. 'Whangārei, Kaipara and Far North District Councils have been working together to model the financials for a Northland CCO so that option could be included for consultation,' said Mayor Cocurullo. 'All three District Councils are committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability, efficiency and regulatory compliance of water services in Northland. With the community's feedback, we are able to do further investigations on collaborative opportunities, such as the viability of shared or managed services, or a Northland CCO.' Each District Council is required to submit their water service delivery plan to Central Government before 3 September 2025. More information about Local Water Done Well and the results of each Council's consultation can be found below. Notes
Scoop
4 hours ago
- Scoop
Northland Councils Explore Collaborative Opportunities For Water Service Delivery
Northland's District Councils have each heard feedback from their communities on the future of water services delivery, and established a cross-Council working group to work through what collaboration across Councils could look like. The Coalition Government's 'Local Water Done Well' programme has been established to address Aotearoa's long-standing water infrastructure challenges. It empowers Councils to decide how they will deliver water services, while meeting increased regulations, supporting growth and being financially sustainable. It encourages Councils to work with neighbouring districts on solutions that could benefit the larger region. Mayor of Whangārei and Chair of the newly established 'Northland Water Services Working Group', Vince Cocurullo said, 'Each Council has now completed formal consultation with the community where options were proposed for how drinking, waste and storm water services should be delivered in the future.' Consultations indicated that in Whangārei there was a clear preference for keeping its water services in-house with increased collaboration with the other Northland Councils, while Kaipara's results were in favour of a Northland Council Controlled Organisation (CCO), and Far North showed preference for a strengthened in-house model with improvements to delivery, governance, compliance and financial management. 'While options and preferences in each district vary, all of us are committed to getting around the table and evaluating the opportunities of working together and solving some of the challenges we all experience,' said Mayor Cocurullo. The Northland Water Services Working Group is made up of elected members from each Council, supported by their staff. Representatives from the Department of Internal Affairs and an independent advisor will attend each meeting, and the working group will make recommendations to each Council for decision making later this year. 'Whangārei, Kaipara and Far North District Councils have been working together to model the financials for a Northland CCO so that option could be included for consultation,' said Mayor Cocurullo. 'All three District Councils are committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability, efficiency and regulatory compliance of water services in Northland. With the community's feedback, we are able to do further investigations on collaborative opportunities, such as the viability of shared or managed services, or a Northland CCO.' Each District Council is required to submit their water service delivery plan to Central Government before 3 September 2025. More information about Local Water Done Well and the results of each Council's consultation can be found below. Whangarei District Council: Kaipara District Council: Far North District Council: Notes
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Economist backs new water services model
One of New Zealand's best-known economists is backing the maths behind a move to shift control of Waitaki's water services and assets to a new company, jointly-formed by four Otago district councils. With water charges due to come off rates bills from the 2027 financial year because of changes to government regulations, Infometrics chief economist Brad Olsen has voiced strong support for Southern Water Done Well's preferred water services delivery model, saying it offered the "best pathway" to safe, reliable water services and long-term financial benefits for the districts involved. SWDW's four partner councils — Waitaki, Gore, Central Otago, and Clutha district councils — are consulting on options for the future delivery of water services to meet the government's Local Water Done Well legislation. Their preferred delivery model is a jointly owned council-controlled organisation (CCO) covering all four districts. The other three options being consulted on are a standalone Waitaki CCO, an in-house business unit, and in the case of WDC only, a joint CCO with Mackenzie, Timaru and Waimate districts. At a recent meeting of Southern Water Done Well (SWDW) elected politicians and senior staff, Mr Olsen outlined what he felt were the positives of the joint CCO option. Mr Olsen said one of the "most compelling" advantages was the leap in bargaining power, a media statement issued by the SWDW group said. Individually, the four councils each represent just 1% to 2% of the South Island's population. However, by forming a jointly owned council controlled organisation, they collectively represent 6.6% of the South Island's population. "That shift in scale is transformative. "In a tight infrastructure market, scale gives you options and leverage." SWDW, through Wellington-based consultants Morrison Low, has modelled all of the options, for water charges in 2027-28 and 2033-34 years in the Waitaki district. Mr Olsen noted SWDW's deliberately conservative approach to financial modelling for the jointly owned CCO. While short-term financial gains might be modest, water assets were long-term (20 years+) and by year 20, modelling for other joint water services delivery entities showed potential savings of up to 20% compared with going it alone. "Even under these conservative assumptions, the numbers still stack up." The conservative modelling projects 15% to 16% operating and capital efficiencies being achieved over "roughly a decade, which is a similar timeframe to achieve efficiencies as seen in other spaces". WDC's public consultation on the four options ends today at 5pm. Water options Water options considered (prices per year) Joint ''Southern Water Done Well'' 2027-28 2033-34 Joint council CCO (SWDW) $2168 $2894 Stand-alone CCO $2466 $3754 In-house business unit $2269 $3093 The South Canterbury council's model 2027-28 2033-34 In-house business unit $2041 $2924 Joint council $2269 $3093
