Canterbury is interested in a regional deal and plans to provide “a more thorough proposal” later this year.
The Canterbury Mayoral Forum lodged their interest in a regional deal in December and then notified the Government at the end of February of their intention to apply later this year.
Regional Deals are long-term agreements between central and local governments aimed at unlocking funding and facilitating collaboration to achieve specific regional outcomes.
The Canterbury Mayoral Forum wrote to Local Government Minister Simon Watts on February 28, advising him of the Forum’s continued interest in a Regional Deal, “pending a thorough proposal being submitted at a later date”.
Forum chairperson, Timaru mayor Nigel Bowen, said the forum want to “do it once and do it right to set the region up for success”.
He said the Minister’s office had received the letter and would be providing a response.
The forum consists of the mayors of the 10 territorial authorities in Canterbury and the chairperson of the Canterbury Regional Council.
The letter to Watts, signed by the 11 mayors of Canterbury – including Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown – stated that the council have “strongly focused on core business such as implementing Local Water Done Well and lifting the efficiency of resource management and consenting”.
“Given the tight time frames for the Regional Deals process, we have taken the decision to prioritise those things that are of immediate importance to our ratepayers, while working together to set the foundations for the long-term strategic work to set us up for success for a Regional Deal.”
The forum expected to “make a call on the detail for a regional deal in August”.
Earlier this month, Local Government Minister Simon Watts said the Government had received a great response from regions across New Zealand and is now assessing which regions will be the first to progress towards a deal.
“I have made it clear to councils that I expect them to demonstrate how each initiative would connect to other projects and other government priorities.”
The Wellington Regional Leadership Committee had not applied for a regional deal yet and planned to put together a more comprehensive proposal to submit later, RNZ reported.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon referred to it as “pretty lame-o” for Wellington not to have submitted a proposal.
“Here we have a government doing everything it can to make sure that we attract capital to this country which has been a problem for a long period of time and you can’t even get Wellington councils to submit a regional or a city deal.”
By Jonathan Leask
