Porirua Mayor Anita Baker has welcomed today's announcement on water reform.
"This announcement ends uncertainty for communities across the country and the Local Government sector and charts a path forward for us. I want to thank the Government for that.
We’ve got to make sure that we move on from an unworkable status quo, where councils are unable to fund their water due to a lack of debt headroom. We need to unlock borrowing capacity to renew our ageing water networks. Communities having influence into that is crucial, but councils have shown over decades that they aren’t right to be in the driver’s seat.
I’m rapt the new Government has kept their word and committed to reform. Now we have to work co-operatively on the detail to get the best legislation possible.
We cannot afford any council in the Wellington region wandering off and trying to do their own thing. We need to be in this together in a council-controlled organisation, thinking, acting and investing regionally."
14 Dec 2023
