Wake-up call for councils
This editorial has been updated to reflect the fact Tauranga City Council CEO Marty Grenfell resigned. Council officials around the country should be scouring agendas,...
Category : Local Democracy
Capping rates – a danger for local & central government
We need an inquiry into local government funding, but it must have cross-party support and a clear commitment to implement its recommendations, write Andy Asquith,...
Turning vision into reality
The next phase of local government reform is about taking the foundations established through priorities, community voice, evidence and process, and applying them to three...
Local democracy swept aside
If amalgamation weakened accountability and drove costs up in 1989, is there any reason to believe that even more heavy-handed mergers can deliver the opposite...
Lessons from setting up a new water entity
Creating a new organisation is not the finish line; it’s the foundation on which long-term success depends, writes Jaron Shaw, Establishment Programme Director for Waikato...
And the early winners are…
Each potential coalition of councils has essentially had to outsource the work around amalgamation to a consultancy because of a lack of internal capacity and capability, write...
Democracy or autocracy?
As the Government mulls over the proposals for how councils propose to reorganise themselves under the Head Start pathway of Simplifying Local Government, we must...
All the reform, everywhere, all at once
If local government feels overwhelmed at the moment, that is because almost every lever that shapes the sector is being pulled at once, writes Gwynn...
Reform agenda: the right starting point
Success is a system where local government is a genuine partner in national development. Resourced, empowered and expected to lead, writes Nick Leggett, the Chief...
Head Start is just the beginning
We are only just at the beginning of local government amalgamation in New Zealand. Head Start is not the destination, it is the starting point...