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by Jon (Mitch) Mitchell - Queenstown Whakatipu Ward Councillor / Queenstown Lakes District Council

The full day of council workshops of the 26th of January was probably the most focused and collegial of the new council so far, as we worked with senior staff on developing feedback to government reforms on “simplifying local government”, RMA / planning reforms, rates capping and infrastructure funding.

It was heart warming to have enthusiastic input from practically all councillors in reaction to the government’s various agendas. All of it relevant to the long-term plan development we are about to launch into. Alongside the new local plan component of a “regional spatial plan” that will be required when the Planning Bill is enacted later this year. While we also put together the new council-controlled water services entity.

All of this informing the refresh of our community and council priorities, what we should be investing more or less ratepayer funding into, and how we can do all of this smarter into the future. “Achieving more with less”, as Mayor Glover has said recently. Now that’s a challenge!

I was pleasantly reminded recently by a North Island parent of teenagers here for a cricket tournament at the Queenstown Events Centre, that, despite traffic congestion and infrastructure projects underway right now, the infrastructure and services our district enjoys are “second to none!”

Although perhaps he wasn’t aware of the ongoing challenges around our wastewater treatment plants, sometimes we need to remind ourselves that what we do as a local authority is important to our communities and economy and makes a real difference.

Of course we have to make sure we reflect, learn and do better. Most around the council table are committed to constructively doing that in relation to problematic decisions of QLDC managers and previous councils, even if a few are understandably uncomfortable with looking back.

The challenges of meeting the needs of our rapidly growing population, waves of Fast-Track applications, construction inflation, and the real costs of the government’s reform programmes are beginning to bite. While the government shuts down funding options with proposed rates caps, shifting local road funding to so-called “roads of national significance”, seriously limiting public transport funding, and diverting the International Visitor Levy to attract more visitors instead of where it was intended, to invest in local authority and DoC infrastructure.

The Otago Central Lakes Regional Deal process has so far delivered no promises of new funding, while putting even more pressure on our local communities to enable more growth. For it to be a deal there have to be real benefits for our communities. Permission to initiate a locally collected tourist bed-tax would be an excellent start!

By the time this article goes to print the council will have discussed how it is going to effectively advocate for the interests of our communities. To do that we will need to work closely with other local interests to make sure all political parties take the needs of communities seriously in this pivotal election year. Let’s do this together!