Big Reforms, Big Decisions - Headstart Consultation

A Mid-South Canterbury Unitary Council based on either territorial or river catchment boundaries

Size (Territory)
19,607 sq km

Population: (approx)
100,900

GDP: (approx)
$8.4 billion

Council Assets: (approx)
$4.3 billion

This option would create a new
unitary council covering:

Timaru District;
Waimate District;
Mackenzie District; and
Ashburton District.

And optionally (extended part of map)

the Rakaia River catchment
currently within Ashburton and Selwyn Districts; and
the Waitaki River catchment currently
within Waitaki, Waimate and
Mackenzie Districts.

This option would bring together four districts with a combined population of just over 100,000 people, providing more scale and capability than Option A while still offering a reasonably coherent Mid-South Canterbury model.

Possible Advantages	Possible Disadvantages or risks
Creates a larger organisation than Option A, with greater scale and capability.	Larger boundaries may make some communities feel more distant from decision-making, and local voice arrangements would need careful design.
Better aligns local and regional functions in one council.	Some regional functions, especially river and freshwater management, may still require crossboundary arrangements.
May provide stronger long-term planning for infrastructure, land use, freshwater, transport and economic development than current arrangements, although with less scale than the larger options..	Detailed arrangements for assets, debt, staff, services and representation are not yet known.
Gives local councils and communities more influence over the shape of reform than waiting for the backstop process.	There may be transition costs before any efficiencies are achieved.
Could reduce some duplication between district and regional council functions over time.	Using only territorial boundaries would leave some river and catchment management issues to be managed through cross-boundary arrangements, including for the Waitaki River.
	Ashburton’s strongest links may differ across communities, with some connections north toward Greater Christchurch and some south toward Timaru.
	Agreement would be needed with other councils and the Government.

Including river catchments (highlighted in green)

This option also recognises that some regional council functions, such as river management, flood protection
and freshwater management, work most logically across catchments rather than existing district council boundaries.
Including the Rakaia and Waitaki catchments could reduce the complexity of shared river management and provide a more integrated approach to environmental and infrastructure planning.
This would add the additional cost of river management in these areas which may not be fully met by rates from the number of rating units gained.
Including parts of existing neighbouring districts would add complexity, and local voice arrangements would need careful design.
There will be boundary, rating, asset and debt-splitting issues that would arise from including parts or Selwyn and Waitaki Districts in any final model.