Regional Councils

Democratic and Effective Local Government.

Well that was the idea.

The Local Government Act and the Resource Management Act have tried to lay the groundwork for effective local government but ever since the major changes in 1991 there have been those who wish to alter or tinker with Acts that were largely effective given their huge task.

Part II of the Resource management Act had the  bold aim of managing natural and physical resources in a sustainable way. 

What is sustainable? That's a problem for a start.

Regional Councils were given the task of gamekeeper and also picked up the highly necessary catchment functions that   were previously the responsibility of Catchment Boards.

This is all lost on ratepayers now. Time has eroded the understanding of why Regional Councils were created and why they are critical in Local Government.

Sections of the RMA such as Section 6, 7 and 8 have given the opportunity for massive expansion and interpretation of all manner of issues and one thing about public servants and consultants is that they have an insatiable desire to expand. They dine on expansion.  They consume ratepayers funds at an alarming rate .It's easy to spend other peoples money.

Over the years various governments have amended the RMA and it has become a challenging piece of legislation .Politicians are pushed and pulled by the wrong influencers and we end up with a mess.

Recent announcements about getting rid of Regional Councillors and forming Boards as a kneejerk reaction to some councils being disproportionately influenced by indoctrinated staff is a very concerning and wrong move.

First you have to understand the problem.

Politicians think they understand Local Government .They don't.

They then attempt to correct perceived problems only to create more.

Going back to the last big reorganisation of Local Government ratepayers forget that County Councils were effective in Local Government.

There were some massive County Councils like Tuapeka. They were crushed under the changes.

What we can see now how the power base of rural people shifted to the urban base .The imposition of more and more regulations and controls and legislative creep has emanated from Central Government interference .A great example being the con of climate change.

This power needed to be curbed. This will not occur with the  petulant bashing of Regional Councils by politicians with brief attendance in Wellington and poor advice from whoever.

Heads are nodding but they are not thinking. 

A better start at correcting the situation would be to go back to the drawing board with catchments as a starting point.

Cut the urban activists and the environmentally vacant out of the equation.