the proposed changes could affect councils’ ability to increase rates above a defined threshold<\/a>, local authorities’ planning remit, and the structure and function of all the regional councils.<\/p>\nKaipara, Far North and Whang\u0101rei, along with the Northland Regional Council, are backing a ‘by Northland, for Northland’ approach.<\/p>\n
They said the local government minister heard Northland councils were eager to engage early with the government and held a meeting with Simon Watts on Thursday, before Waitangi Day.<\/p>\n
They aimed to demonstrate that, as local leaders, they could be trusted to deliver solutions that work on the ground.<\/p>\n
“We support change, but we believe this must reflect Northland’s geography, our unique communities and iwi relationships,” Northland Mayoral Forum chair Moko Tepania said. “The focus must be on outcomes, rather than structure.”<\/p>\n
Far North Mayor Tepania said Northland wanted to avoid a “one-size-fits-all” approach to local government reform.<\/p>\n
“We are keen to start working with the government now on a collective response that works for our communities.”<\/p>\n
Whang\u0101rei Mayor Ken Couper said Watts was encouraged by a united Northland.<\/p>\n
“We believe that we have a moment in time now where, if we act with a common goal, we can make a real difference,” he said.<\/p>\n
Watts said the meeting provided him with valuable insights and context on the challenges facing the region.<\/p>\n
“I am encouraged by their recognition that we need to work differently to meet today’s challenges and their commitment to work together with the government on finding solutions that work.”<\/p>\n
Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero, a daily newsletter<\/a> curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Far North Mayor Moko Tepania also chairs the Northland Maoyral Forum. Photo: Peter de Graaf\/RNZ Northland’s four councils…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-271837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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