Western Bay residents will be asked their thoughts on the “significant changes” needed to manage water services in future.

Consultation for the Western Bay of Plenty District Council’s plan to manage drinking, storm and wastewater starts on Monday.

One councillor claimed the consultation was “tokenistic” because she said councillors had clearly made up their minds.

But the mayor said the changes were imposed by the Government and the council’s options were limited.

Local Water Done Well is the Government’s plan for managing water services after it repealed the Three Waters laws last year.

The new laws aim to improve water quality, ensure future investment in infrastructure and ensure local control of water services.

Councils must submit a Water Services Delivery Plan outlining how they would manage future water delivery by September 3.

Local Water Done Well aims to improve water quality and keep local control of water services. Photo / Getty

Councils could keep delivering water services in-house or set up water organisations. They could also work with other councils to deliver services together.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council will ask the community about three options:

- The preferred option is an organisation controlled by multiple councils to deliver water services. Tauranga City Council is a potential partner, according to consultation documents.

- Keeping the current model, by which the council continues to manage water. It says this would not be financially sustainable long-term.

- A single council-controlled organisation that transfers water assets and delivery to a separate entity. The council would retain ownership, but decisions would be made by an independent board.

The council received advice from local government consultants MartinJenkins and the Department of Internal Affairs to develop the options.

The consultation document - titled Wai. Water that works for us - was adopted at a meeting on Tuesday.

It said Local Water Done Well represented some of the most significant changes to local government in recent times.

Maketu-Te Puke ward councillor Laura Rae is questioning the consultation process.

Councillor Laura Rae said she did not want to endorse the consultation document if the council was “not going to listen to the people”.

Rae questioned why the council was asking people’s thoughts on the options when they had “clearly made up our minds”.

“It feels like we’re just asking because we’re required by law. We’re not really going to listen, it’s tokenistic and it’s a waste of time.”

The comments she had heard from other councillors through workshops sounded as though they had made up their minds, she said.

The council held five closed-door workshops about Local Water Done Well, and notes were publicly released for all of them.

In October 2023, Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier told councils in his report Open for Business that workshops should be open to the public by default.

Western Bay Mayor James Denyer. Photo / John Borren

Mayor James Denyer said the council was required to have a preferred option, but consultation was a challenge because the changes and financial framework came from the Government.

“The choices are fairly limited in some ways.”

Councillor Grant Dally said the council had not made up its mind and he was open to any of the options.

“Nothing has been decided; we do rely on feedback from the public.”

Katikati-Waihī Beach ward councillor Rodney Joyce. Photo / John Borren

Councillor Rodney Joyce said the council was required by law to consult on at least two options.

It was a chance to talk to the community about the three options, as well as the problems and opportunities the council faced.

There were challenges around funding and the infrastructure required as the district grew, but there were also opportunities to partner with other councils if those councils wanted to.

The challenges made it harder for the council to “go it alone”.

It was not a “perfect process”, but the council needed to try to get the best deal it could for residents and ratepayers, he said.

Denyer encouraged people to read the document and said there was technical information available if anyone wanted to go into that level of detail.

Consultation opens on Monday and runs until April 24. Public hearings will be held on May 13 and 15.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.