17 Dec 2012

Tension between councils and central Government

12:00 pm on 17 December 2012

A report by the Productivity Commission has described an obvious and growing tension in the relationship between councils and central Government.

In a draft report on local government regulation issued on Monday, the commission said departments in Wellington tend to treat councils as an arm of central Government.

By comparison, councils feel left out of the loop by central Government when drafting new regulations which councils have to carry out.

In a submission, Local Government New Zealand cited the latest review of the Resource Management Act as an example of a lack of cooperation between central and local Government.

LGNZ said it had been shut out of the review even though it is responsible for enforcing the legislation through local plans.