Local Water Done Well

Buller District Council (BDC) will come together next week to consider 35 submissions on the proposed options for how Buller delivers its water services in future under the Local Water Done Well legislation.

Between 16 May and 13 June 2025, council invited the Buller community to provide feedback on two options, which are to form either a multi-council-controlled organisation with two or more District Councils (Grey and Westland), or an internal business unit based within Buller District Council for water services delivery.

Nine people have chosen to speak to their submissions during the hearings, which are scheduled for next week. Council has published the individual submissions and a consultation report analysing the submissions on the Buller District Council website.

The hearings and deliberations will take place at the Clocktower Chambers in Palmerston Street on Monday 30 June and Tuesday 1 July.

Council will listen to people who wish to speak to their submissions, then discuss the submissions during deliberations. Proceedings for both will be livestreamed to council’s YouTube channel, Buller District Council.

Group Manager Infrastructure Services Anthony Blom says: “Next week, after the deliberations and hearings are complete, councillors will make a decision regarding which option to endorse, after which BDC’s Water Service Delivery Plan will be formulated. This document will direct how Buller’s drinking water, stormwater and wastewater will be managed in future. Further information will be released after this date.”

The Water Services Delivery Plan will then be adopted at an Extraordinary Council meeting on 27 August, after which it will be submitted to the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) for review and approval. The DIA will then share this information with the Commerce Commission in October.

Mr Blom continues: “It is anticipated that council will publish the final Water Service Delivery Plan in December and implement the new water service delivery model on 1 July 2027.”

Buller’s drinking, storm and wastewater services will be delivered through the new water service delivery model from 2027/28.

“We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to provide feedback during this consultation. Community feedback plays an important role in our decision-making processes” concludes Mr Blom.

Disclaimer
The information in this media release was correct at time of publication. Changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of the information.

Council will ask the community for feedback on how the district’s drinking, storm and wastewater are managed in the future. Consultation runs between Friday, 16 May and 4:30 pm Friday, 13 June 2025.

The community can indicate their preference for one of two feasible options. These are creating a multi-council-controlled organisation (CCO) with the Grey and Westland District Councils or setting up a stand-alone business unit, meaning that water services would be managed by an independent entity within council.

Council’s preferred option is to establish a multi-council CCO jointly owned by the Grey, Westland and Buller District Councils.

Creating a multi council organisation with the other West Coast councils could save Buller ratepayers about $1000 a year, compared to keeping services in-house. A regional approach would create cost savings through jointly procuring contracts, acquiring supplies, sharing software and vehicles, and streamlining decision-making.

Buller Mayor Jamie Cleine said he had thought for some time that working with other councils was a smart idea, especially if this could bring multiple benefits for residents of Buller.

“Now I look forward to hearing from the community on where we have got to so far and potentially working further with both Grey and Westland. Government has mandated significant changes, and working collaboratively with others is an essential avenue to explore.”

The alternative option proposed by council would be to deliver drinking, storm and wastewater through a separate, stand-alone internal business unit. Under this option, property owners would pay higher charges than under the multi-council CCO, and council would not have the ability to borrow more under the Local Government Funding Agency to meet the Act's infrastructure investment requirements.

Buller must invest $32.4 million over the coming nine years (2025 – 2034) to provide the communities with drinking water. Further significant investments are required for wastewater treatment and stormwater management.

Chief Executive Simon Pickford highlights: “Local Water Done Well is a mandated reset of how we deliver water in the future and address the significant investment backlog.

This is a complex issue, but I encourage everyone to understand the challenges and engage in the conversation over the coming weeks.”

The community can get informed through watching videos, attending information evenings, listening to podcasts, reading the consultation document, or talking to councillors and staff.

All three West Coast councils are consulting with their communities at the same time. All have indicated a preference to form a multi-council CCO.

The Consultation Document, submission forms and further information are available online via Let’s Talk Buller or at the council’s offices and libraries, the Karamea Information Centre, and the Ngakawau Community Centre during the consultation period.

People who want to speak in support of their submission can address council during the hearings in late June 2025.

All feedback received will be considered by councillors during deliberations in late June, before council will decide on one option.

Disclaimer
The information in this media release was correct at the time of publication. Changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of the information.

Buller District Council has confirmed the timeline for its Local Water Done Well consultation.

Council will ask the community for feedback on how to manage the district’s drinking, storm and wastewater in the future as required under the Local Water Done Well legislation between 16 May and 13 June 2025.

Chief Executive Simon Pickford outlines: “We have meticulously analysed all the available options over the last few months, ruling out several unfeasible models. This rigorous process ensures our options for public consultation are the most viable and beneficial for our community in the long term.”

Council representatives held initial discussions in 2024 with Grey and Westland District councils to understand if there were any opportunities to work together, however these discussions did not progress.

Council then engaged with other councils in the South Island to see whether there was an appetite to work toward a ‘Top of the South’ multi-council controlled organisation (CCO). However, this also did not progress. In recent months, the idea of a West Coast multi-council CCO has been revisited and has gained momentum.

Mr Pickford elaborates: “The feasible options are either a multi-council CCO with other Grey and Westland District Councils or a stand-alone business unit which would be an enhanced version of the status quo, with water services operating as an independent entity within council.

Since December 2024, multiple workshops have been held with elected members and a steering group set up. This includes the two Infrastructure portfolio leads, Cr Phil Grafton and Cr Grant Weston, council staff and experts, ensuring that diverse perspectives and expertise are considered in shaping the way water services are delivered in the future.

Mr Pickford highlights: “One key point that has come out of the work done to date is that scale matters. The more people contribute to covering the costs, the more affordable water services will be in the future for our community.”

The consultation document for public consultation will be considered by council on the 14 May. After this, council will consult with the community in May–June and decide on a preferred option in July. This option will form the basis for the Water Service Delivery Plan.

Council must adopt the Water Service Delivery Plan in August to submit to the Department of Internal Affairs by 3 September 2025 for review and sign off.

Mr Pickford says: “In the consultation document, we will present the two feasible options for the community to consider, along with high-level cost estimates for the coming decades. We encourage the community to provide feedback on this key decision in May.”

Disclaimer
The information in this media release was correct at the time of publication. Changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact the accuracy of the information.

Buller District Council reviewed options for managing the district's drinking water, stormwater, and wastewater in the future at a public workshop this week.

At present, the shortlisted options are:

• an internal business unit or division, meaning to keep the status quo
• a single-asset-owning council-controlled organisation (CCO)
• a multi-asset-owning council-controlled organisation (CCO)

Councils nationwide can choose between five options on which to base their future water service delivery models. The two options that Council ruled out are a mixed council/consumer trust-owned water organisation and a consumer trust-owned water organisation. Any consumer trust options would cut off access to New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency borrowing levels. Therefore, these options are unlikely to meet the financial sustainability requirements set out in the Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act 2024.

A non-asset-owning CCO has also been ruled as unfeasible, since the benefits of an asset-owning entity significantly outweigh a non-asset-owning organisation. The option to keep stormwater management in-house and only include drinking and wastewater is also off the table, since it is not financially feasible.

Group Manager Infrastructure Services Anthony Blom says: “We need to include the status quo as an option to comply with the Local Water Done Well legislation, despite this not being an option going forward. Delivering water services to our community as we previously did is financially unsustainable.”

The financial analysis of the three shortlisted options reveals the economic benefits of delivering water services with other councils.

Mr Blom says: “We have calculated the investment required and the price per household over a 20-year period, as we need look at this through a long-term lens. The figures show that delivering drinking water, wastewater disposal, and stormwater management will be more expensive, regardless of the option chosen,

Some of Buller’s water supplies require significant investment to provide and deliver drinking water that will meet future regulatory standards, especially the numerous rural water supplies in Northern Buller. We also have some investment ahead, necessary for upgrading our wastewater management to meet future consent requirements.”

Advantages and disadvantages were outlined for each of the three options brought forward for community input.

A steering group, consisting of Cr Phil Grafton, Cr Grant Weston and key Council staff developed a scoring system, which was then applied to evaluate the options. The results were presented to Council at the workshop this week.

Buller District Council have engaged in conversations with other Councils about forming a multi-asset owning Council-Controlled Organisations (CCO) including Tasman and Marlborough Councils and separately with Grey District Council.

The options for public consultation will be presented to Council at the end of March. This will then help finalise the Consultation Document for adoption in April. After this, council will consult with the community in late April and decide on a preferred option at the end of June.

Mr Blom says: “The implications surrounding the Local Water Done Well legislation are significant, and we encourage the community to stay informed.

We will publish information about the development of the Water Services Delivery Plan and the current state of the district’s water services throughout March and April, so people can make an informed decision when we’ll ask the community which option they think is best for managing Buller’s water services in the future.”

Council will publish relevant information on its community engagement platform, Let’s talk Buller and other channels.

Disclaimer
The information in this media release was correct at the time of publication. Changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact the accuracy of the information.

Buller District Council is looking at ways to tackle the next stage of the Coalition Government’s Local Water Done Well legislation.

The Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act 2024, which came into effect on 2 September 2024, establishes the Local Water Done Well framework and lays out the preliminary arrangements for the new water services system.

Each council around the country has until 3 September 2025 to develop a Water Services Delivery Plan outlining the council’s future water services delivery arrangements, provide an implementation plan for actioning it, and alongside, develop a financial strategy to support this.

The choices available to Buller include developing a model in collaboration with other councils, setting up a Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) for delivering water services or contracting water services out to a separate entity. These options will be considered alongside a stand-alone option, where council would be solely responsible for managing the district’s water service provisions.

Buller District Council has long been an advocate of Water Reform and is acutely aware of the challenges that the required infrastructure investment would have on the affordability of three waters services for our community.

A number of different workstreams have been evaluated to see what might work best for our ratepayers.

Mayor Jamie Cleine says: “Some councils have already decided against collaboration, but BDC has entered discussions with other like-minded councils to assess the worth of a collaborative, cross-council Water Services model, compared to councils working individually.”

When a set of options have been considered and finalised, council will make decisions on the preferred options, which will be refined further and ultimately presented to the community for feedback.

Once the feedback process is completed, the Water Services Delivery Plan will be finalised and adopted by council prior to the 3 September 2025 deadline.

Disclaimer
The information in this media release was correct at the time of publication. Changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact the accuracy of the information.