As the controversial Three Waters debate rages on, Western Bay of Plenty District Council is joining forces with other councils to come up with another solution.

The council agreed 'in principle” to join the local government action group Communities 4 Local Democracy (C4LD) at a meeting on Wednesday.

C4LD is made up of 31 of New Zealand's 67 councils, it aims to work with the government to deliver safe drinking water while retaining local voice and meaningful partnership with mana whenua.

The group opposes the Three Waters reforms, in their current form, which will see wastewater, stormwater and drinking water managed by four publicly owned entities instead of individual councils.

Councillor Margaret Murray-Benge says under the reforms the water services are ' being transferred over to these huge entities that are tribal dominated and it's just so undemocratic”.

The regional entities will be governed by a board made up of local authority members and mana whenua.

'If this goes through and we do nothing, then all I know is that having had the experience of it before, we will just be walked over and will be regionalised,” says Murray-Benge.

'Our ratepayers, who are so uptight about this issue, will have no say whatsoever in a bigger conglomerate.

'It's time we joined the organisation that has the community at heart.”

Councillor Murray Grainger said the council need to stand up for their community. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

Councillor Murray Grainger supports joining C4LD and says many of the councillors have campaigned on their opposition to the reforms.

'We would not be representing our constituents who put us around the table if we're not prepared to stand up for what we believe and for what they want.

'The previous council was not prepared to stand up for the people of our district on this matter.”

Grainger failed to get the previous council to join C4LD in December 2021, when his motion to join was lost by majority vote.

Councillor Grant Dally says he voted against C4LD membership a year ago because the Government was 'forging ahead” with the reforms and he wasn't sure what the group was likely to achieve.

The issues of privatisation and loss of local voice raised by the community still hasn't been addressed, says Dally.

'The four entities that are being established at the moment do lend themselves to being sold off in an asset grab.

'Small and regional entities are the way forward that will retain that local voice, that will get more protection against privatisation.”

He now supports joining C4LD saying they are the 'experts on the ground”.

Deputy mayor John Scrimgeour was the only one who voted against joining C4LD. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

Deputy mayor John Scrimgeour is against joining as he doesn't believe it will 'have much impact” on central government.

'The most likely way to achieve significant change … is through a change of central government.

'Given that a number of parties have indicated that they will be repealing the legislation, [if they were elected].”

Councillor Tracey Coxhead disagrees with Scrimgeour's stance.

'I don't agree that doing nothing's an option. I believe that bad things happen because good people do nothing,” she says.

Councillor Rodney Joyce 'took issue” with Scrimgeour's 'idea that the thing was done and dusted”

'This is a live issue. One bill has been passed, two more are still to go.”

Joyce agrees: 'The real answer to change may well be the election.”

The Waters Services Entities Bill, the first of the three bills that will enact the reforms, was passed in parliament last week.

Grainger says the government's handling of this bill showed 'blatant disregard for the will of the people and for the due process of rulemaking”.

Mayor James Denyer says, his earlier 'reluctance” to join C4LD has 'waned” given the changes the group made in the past year.

'The ability of C4LD to achieve its aims remains uncertain," he says.

Mayor James Denyer said there are trade-offs in Three Waters reform. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

'A practical alternative is yet to emerge and that involves tradeoffs.

'There are trade-offs in Three Waters reform you can't have everything you want. And that's unfortunately what central government have to deal with.”

The council also agreed in principle to support the C4LD draft Mayoral Declaration which was crafted by the C4LD coalition and the Mayors of Auckland and Christchurch City Councils.

The mayors put forward an alternate proposal that kept part of the existing reforms including the new water regulator, Taumata Arowai, while maintaining local ownership, control and accountability.

The plan will replace four large water entities with Regional Water Organisations (RWOs), which would be unable to be sold outside local authority ownership.

The council asked staff to clarify conditions of C4LD membership, future financial commitments, future plans and any queries with governance.

Once this is complete, councillors will vote again on whether to confirm the arrangement.

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