June update: Mayoral Forum

The Mayoral Forum met at the Commodore Hotel on Friday 2 June. Significant agenda items are summarised on this page.

Ministers meeting debrief and next steps

Members discussed meetings with Ministers at parliament on 11 May, noting the value of the meetings in building relationships, the intention to repeat these in the future, and agreed to write to Ministers Allen, McAnulty and Robertson, as well as relevant opposition MPs, expressing strong support for flood resilience work.

Resource management reform

Forum members received an update on progress on resource management reforms. Members discussed whether Waitaha/Canterbury is interested in engaging with tranche 1, noting the potential to influence through involvement in scoping, that involvement in scoping doesn’t commit the region to tranche 1, concern around disruption to district plan processes for some councils, and the need to understand mana whenua views on reform before progressing.

Fluvial gravel management

Environment Canterbury Councillor Ian Mackenzie joined the meeting and noted key points around gravel management, including issues for commercial extractors, how Environment Canterbury’s river management team is working to encourage extraction from places that need it the most, and that the river management team are seeking clarification with rūnanga on their positions on gravel extraction.

Canterbury Mayoral Forum and Ngāi Tahu relationship

Environment Canterbury Councillor Tutehounuku “Nuk” Korako joined the meeting to speak to the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Act 2022, and the value of the two Environment Canterbury Ngāi Tahu councillors. He spoke about the election process for these seats, noted the importance of mana to mana relationships between papatipu rūnanga and members of the Forum, and emphasised the need to be able to align with papatipu rūnanga on key issues for advocacy.

Climate Change Action Planning Reference Group update

Dan Gordon provided an update on the Group’s planning, noting the vision, outcomes and objectives for climate action planning for Waitaha/Canterbury.

Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand localities update

Vince Barry, Endine Dixon-Harris and Teei Kaiaruna (Te Whatu Ora), and Ben Clark (Regional Public Service Commissioner) joined the meeting to provide an update on localities planning for health. The Te Whatu Ora team advised members that localities seek to provide a focus on wellbeing by deinstitutionalising and handing responsibility to communities. They provided an update on the locality process, and progress to date, noting that 12 localities have been provisionally established. The next rollout will include a further 22, all in the North Island. It was noted that iwi/Māori partnership boards are currently being established for Te Wai Pounamu, and that these will influence what localities look like.