Hawke's Bay's councils have united in anger against Central Government's decision to go ahead with its Three Waters Reform, with concern that if other services are taken away, councils could become redundant. 

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta confirmed that the new legislation will be mandated, despite opposition from the region's councils that expressed the need for the responsibility of drinking, waste and storm water services to stay in Hawke’s Bay.

The water assets will now be managed by four large entities spread across the country.

The changes, which Government expects to take effect from mid-2024, would see responsibility for Hawke’s Bay’s three waters assets and service delivery transfer to a multi-regional entity responsible for the whole of the East Coast of the North Island, the top of the South Island and the Chatham Islands.

It was little more than a year ago that Mahuta and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stood in Havelock North at the epicentre of the reform - the bore that was found to be the source of the fatal Havelock North campylobacter outbreak in 2016.

A pointed reminder on why they believed the reforms were important. "...We don't want to see this happen again," Ardern said at the time. 

But Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst says the community is "upset and angry with the Government's approach". 

“Our community have made their views very clear that they do not want to be part of an entity that controls water assets for 21 councils, 23 iwi groups and around a million people spanning from the East Coast of the North Island to the top of the South Island and the Chatham Islands.

“We have very big concerns about this model and our community are demanding the chance to have their say about their Three Waters assets which they have invested many millions of dollars on.”

She says she is "dismayed the Government hasn't listened". 

“Hawke’s Bay has been leading in this space and we proposed a regional solution that wasn’t the status quo – but a model that achieved an affordable and sustainable Three Waters for our communities." 

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little says he is "shocked but not surprised". 

"It's been obvious the Government has had no intention of listening to communities or the councils from day one," he told Hawke's Bay App. 

“The people of Wairoa have made it very clear to us they do not want to see control of their Three Waters services disappearing off to some far-flung faceless organisation, in which they have no voice,” he says.

“Government went into this process giving Councils the option to opt-out of reforms. Yet that option is clearly now off the table, and they intend ramming through the changes regardless of what our communities want, which is preposterous and, frankly misleading.”

“What’s more, there are so many unanswered questions from today’s announcement. I really worry there will be a whole series of legacy issues this creates for future generations, and that just isn’t good enough.”

He says there is a "real concern" this could be the start of the Government centralising other services. 

"I've said this from day one, is the Government going to come back to us in a couple of years and say well actually you aren't doing that roading that well either, we're going to centralise that as well." 

Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise says she is feeling "devasted and really blindsided". 

"We had no prior warning that the announcement was going to be made so feeling pretty shocked that this was just a public announcement that was made without councils being given any sort of warning that it was coming." 

She says they entered into the process in good faith and worked "really hard" to analyse the Government's proposed model, provide feedback, share all concerns and propose an alternative Hawke's Bay model.

"I think we were expecting for there to at least be some sort of conversation about what the next steps would be and some consideration of what we had proposed to them so it's feeling like actually no they've just decided they're going to do what they like anyway." 

“Our communities have told us, and we agree, that the most important thing is to keep hold of local voice in decision making. We have paved the way for managing Three Waters as a region working together. We have put in place the planning and the resources for our significant work programme." 

Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Alex Walker says she is both saddened and frustrated that the reform will be mandated "without the voices of our community being heard". 

"The government’s reform to the structure and delivery of Three Waters services is incredibly important to our community and I’m extremely disappointed that there will be no avenue for locally-based decision-making during this proposal of huge and complex change to our assets and services.”

She believes the move poses "significant risks to local ownership, influence, prioritisation and democracy".

“We know that in order for Central Hawke’s Bay to provide safe, resilient, compliant and affordable services to our community, change to the way we deliver water is needed. We supported a regional aggregation of water infrastructure ownership, management and delivery, however do not agree with the model proposed, which will see large scale aggregation and management of our water assets removed from Hawke’s Bay entirely." 

Hazlehurst says Mayors will be working closely together to discuss where to from here.

“We have never disagreed with the need for change, but it is our responsibility to do what is right for Hawke’s Bay and for our communities. The way the Government is going about the reform shows a complete disregard for what our communities have told us, and we will continue to advocate for the outcome we believe our district and our region deserves.”

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