Kawerau District Council has joined Ōpōtiki in delaying public consultation on a pivotal decision about the future of water services delivery.

The council cited significant legislative uncertainty from central government – in particular, the delaying of Simplifying Local Government reform – as the reason for pushing the pause button on a shared water service with Rotorua Lakes, Whakatāne and Ōpōtiki district councils.

Mayor Faylene Tunui said before going out to the people of Kawerau seeking their opinion, she wanted to have a clearer idea of who would be partnering in such an entity.

“The Simplifying Local Government conversation, that is the kaupapa nui, that is the main event.

“To blindly continue on, ignoring the new context ... I’m not sure that serves our community,” she said.

“Before we commit to board arrangements, governance arrangements, representative arrangements, let’s understand who’s actually representing the community.”

Last week Cabinet announced that the decision whether to accept Head Start proposals, including the proposal to form an Eastern Bay unitary council, would be delayed until after November’s general election.

Chief executive Morgan Godfery said the Head Start and wider Simplifying Local Government reforms were crucial to the immediate decision.

“The outcome of those decisions will impact what the makeup of any hypothetical CCO is,” he said.

Kawerau was the last of the four district councils that had jointly commissioned a report from consultants MartinJenkins on a shared water service to face this decision.

The report projected that, over a 30-year period, all four councils would benefit from forming a joint water services council controlled organisation (WSCCO) with over $300 million in savings to be made across the four councils.

Godfery said receiving the report, discharged the commitment to investigate a joint water service made in the Water Services Delivery Plan submitted to the former Department of Internal Affairs last year.

“Now the report has arrived, the decision is whether to consult.”

The three other councils had already made their decisions, each choosing different paths.

Ōpōtiki District Council decided to delay consultation until a decision had been made regarding Head Start proposal submitted to the Government in August, as part of the Simplifying Local Government programme to form an Eastern Bay unitary council.

Whakatāne District Council opted to consult with its community on its preferred option to form the WSCCO, and Rotorua Lakes District Council chose to consult on continuing to deliver its water services in-house.

Tunui instructed council management staff to make the more than 200 pages of MartinJenkins investigation reporting publicly available.

“It is only fair that Kawerau is able to see this report, because it belongs to Kawerau. It is about Kawerau’s assets. It is about Kawerau’s infrastructure.”