Expected legal appeals of the proposed West Coast 'one district plan' and the cost of defending them is worrying West Coast regional councillors.
The council last week debated taking on an extra $1 million of debt to cover a deficit in the Te Tai o Poutini Plan (TTPP) costs.
The West Coast Regional Council is upset that it will foot all the bill to challenge changes being imposed by the government. Photo: Google Maps
With public notification around the corner, councillors were worried any legal challenge to aspects of the proposed plan will impose even more cost on ratepayers.
Councillor Brett Cummings said it was obvious it would be mired in a legal "scrap" once the plan was notified, and he queried who was going to pay.
"What worries me is what is going to have to happen after the [plan] goes forward and the fight starts, the scrap begins and it's going to cost a lot more money," Cummings said.
The council had already spent "millions" fighting the statutory identification of wetlands on the West Coast.
"This is going to be the next fight that's going to happen. It worries me where it is all going to end."
Brett Cummings Photo: West Coast Regional Council
He noted the council was essentially having to defend a programme set by the government with the combined plan process.
"We're going to be fighting it ourselves. The government will be looking on laughing. We don't get any support from Wellington for it... they should in some way fund it," Cummings said.
Councillor Stuart Challenger said he agreed, but the council was committed to the process, including paying for it, because it had no choice.
"It's a matter of getting that message through to central government that their costs or their impositions are costing us and the ratepayers more money. We have a small ratepayer base. How do we afford to keep up with all of these things?"
Chairman Allan Birchfield said the cost imposition was "a democracy issue" as private landowner and ratepayer rights would be eroded through changes proposed in the plan.
"We've had our rights confiscated off us. It's really something that the government needs to look at to protect our rates."
Local Government NZ president Stuart Crosby, addressing the council immediately after it debated borrowing for the TTPP, noted that councils were under the most immense pressure he had seen in 30 years of involvement.
Crosby, a former Tauranga mayor and Bay of Plenty regional councillor, said the reform of the Resource Management Act in particular would have deep impact on the current functions of local government.
Among reforms being signalled was the idea of combined district plans across regions - a policy change the West Coast was essentially piloting for the government as a first.
Because of that the government should have offered some financial support, Crosby said.
"You are leading in New Zealand in that respect, but you have to pay for that. I think we could have assisted in that process."
Stuart Crosby is sympathetic to the regional council's complaint about costs. Photo: RNZ/ Andrew McRae
As it was, the sector was scrambling to meet its obligations to consult on a raft of new legislation being imposed, including the Resource Management Act and environmental enabling legislation, aside from three waters.
"In over 30 years of local government I've never seen an environment so under the pump," Crosby said.
"It's all back-to-front. They should have had the conversation around the future of local government first and then see how it plays out from a policy perspective."
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ on Air.