Smith urged to act on ECan

JOHN BISSET/The Timaru Herald

TESTING THE WATERS: Environment Minister Nick Smith in discussions with South Canterbury district councillors yesterday.

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South Canterbury's district councillors have urged Environment Minister Nick Smith to act quickly on the findings of a damning government review of the regional council.

Dr Smith and Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean were in Timaru yesterday to speak to members of the Timaru, Waimate and Mackenzie district councils about the review, which has recommended sacking the Environment Canterbury council and replacing them with commissioners.

"This recommendation is such a big call that we need to engage with the broadest level of representation possible, and that includes the councillors," Dr Smith said.

Mrs Dean said that during her time as MP, countless farmers and irrigators had complained to her about ECan.

Dr Smith said the review came about after concerns about ECan's failure to manage water efficiently, along with their slow resource-consent processing.

He said the review suggested other options, such as introducing commissioners to help ECan's council oversee its functions under the Resource Management Act, and passing the Canterbury water management strategy into law.

The strategy has been approved by all 10 of Canterbury's local authorities and suggests dividing water management into zonal committees overseen by a mixture of elected and appointed representatives. Although the councillors yesterday displayed mixed opinion as to the future of ECan, all of them felt appointing commissioners would be the way to go.

"I feel we should shut the door on ECan," Mackenzie councillor Dave Pullen said. "There is a huge amount of duplication and they all tend to overlap; the amount of resource consents that need to be issued is ridiculous. There is no improvement, and that's the scary thing about it."

Timaru councillor Jane Coughlan said she hoped commissioners would work with ECan constructively. "Whether the regional council will remain, or whether we move towards unitary authorities, we need to work through this carefully."

Waimate district councillor Peter McIlraith said ECan's culture had become entrenched and commissioners needed to be appointed immediately. "It has really gone too far, I think your actions need to be swift and decisive."

Timaru councillor Ian Bowan suggested ECan's chief executive, Bryan Jenkins, should be held responsible for "about 70 per cent of their problems", but Dr Smith said he would not get into personal attacks.

There were concerns about whether the changes would eventually give local authorities more say in functions such as Clean Heat and public transport.

Dr Smith said that should commissioners be appointed, they would be a temporary option.

After the meeting, he told the Herald he did not want to prejudge the long-term democratic structures of Canterbury.

At the moment, water management was the main issue that needed to be addressed. "There is quite a range of views, [from] those who would like the idea of a separate Canterbury water authority, to some who want to explore unitary authorities. I am very hesitant to get into the detail of these options."

Dr Smith said one option would be for him to appoint commissioners to work with ECan over resource management functions, with the council overseeing its other duties, but he was worried that would create a "two-headed monster".

He said he was against creating more bureaucracy.

Dr Smith said the Government would make its decision in a matter of weeks.

- © Fairfax NZ News