![\"Tauranga](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/tauranga-mayor-mahe-drysdale-and-western-bay-of-plenty-mayor-RM7TKCKF5VESNHISL2UUJOORS4.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTauranga City Council and the Western Bay of Plenty District Council will establish a joint water organisation, elected members have agreed after a full-day debate.<\/p>\n
By Ayla Yeoman, Local Democracy Reporter <\/p>\n
The 9.30am meeting of the two councils, hosted by the district council, finished at 3pm, with just a few breaks in the at-times heated debate between the neighbouring authorities.<\/p>\n
While the Local Water Done Well reform process got off to a collegial start in the region a year ago, with the two mayors going rowing together, tensions soon grew.<\/p>\n
Tauranga initially voted to go it alone on water, despite the Western Bay\u2019s tight vote for a joint approach, before Tauranga U-turned and hopped back on board the joint waka.<\/p>\n
Other issues came up during the due diligence process.<\/p>\n
Today, several councillors compared the agreement to a marriage with relationship issues to sort before any agreement was made.<\/p>\n
The Multi-Council Controlled Organisation they settled on would be in charge of delivering water supply, wastewater and stormwater services.<\/p>\n
The decision was driven by the Government\u2019s Local Water Done Well reform programmes, which required councils to adopt delivery models that ensured financial sustainability.<\/p>\n
Under the Local Government Water Services Act 2025, councils could continue delivering services in-house through a ring-fenced business unit or establish a water organisation, either alone or with other councils.<\/p>\n
Though financial sustainability was a focus, Thursday\u2019s debate centred more around control and authority shared between the two councils.<\/p>\n
Western Bay of Plenty deputy mayor Margaret Murray-Benge said ratepayers needed \u201ca service they can afford\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that in the immediate term we could probably do it on our own, but in the long term, the community will be much better off.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tauranga Mayor Mah\u00e9 Drysdale and Western Bay of Plenty Mayor James Denyer at a joint council meeting to discuss the future of local water services. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n
Murray-Benge said this was the biggest decision that a council has had to make since the 1989 local government reforms.<\/p>\n
Tauranga City Council deputy mayor, Jen Scoular said creating a bigger organisation would help to become more efficient and deliver better services in the long term.<\/p>\n
The councils would create a joint committee and a Terms of Reference covering each council\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n
Councillors discussed whether they would allow the new organisation to remain open to additional councils joining in the future.<\/p>\n
Thames-Coromandel District Council Mayor Peter Revell and deputy mayor John Grant told the meeting they were keen to join in the future.<\/p>\n
The Tauranga and Western Bay councils agreed the new organisation would go live on July 1, 2027.<\/p>\n
While it would initially just be them, they agreed to remain open to other councils joining, and to explore this with Thames-Coromandel.<\/p>\n
They agreed to work with tangata whenua and recognise cross-boundary iwi relationships.<\/p>\n
A joint statement issued after the meeting described the agreement as a \u201clandmark\u201d decision to join forces on water services.<\/p>\n
The new organisation would be \u201cgoverned by a competency-based board, with public ownership protections retained\u201d, the statement said.<\/p>\n
Western Bay Mayor James Denyer said the decision marked the culmination of a long and complex water reform journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cEstablishing a joint Water Organisation gives us the best opportunity to deliver safe, resilient water services, while keeping ownership in public hands and retaining accountable decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tauranga Mayor Mah\u00e9 Drysdale said the joint approach reflected a shared commitment to long-term, regionally aligned water services<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 We are taking a decisive step toward resilient, future-focused services, led by a specialised board and CEO, while creating a platform for stronger regional collaboration over time.”<\/p>\n
The statement said the councils noted \u201cseveral matters\u201d identified in due diligence required \u201cfurther development\u201d through the establishment and transition process.<\/p>\n
Shad Rolleston, a tangata whenua representative of the Joint Working Group for the project, said it was important tangata whenua and the councils kept working together.<\/p>\n
\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tauranga City Council and the Western Bay of Plenty District Council will establish a joint water organisation, elected…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[273,111,43,139,69,1756],"class_list":{"0":"post-361353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-tauranga-bay-of-plenty"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361353","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=361353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}