{"id":594556,"date":"2026-09-09T03:02:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T03:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/594556\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T03:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T03:02:20","slug":"tauranga-councillor-made-to-view-landslide-files-in-supervised-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/594556\/","title":{"rendered":"Tauranga councillor made to view landslide files in supervised room"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Tauranga councillor says he was required to enter a supervised room with no device, pen or paper to review documents related to the Mount Maunganui landslide inquiry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By Ayla Yeoman of Local Democracy Reporting<\/p>\n

Glen Crowther says it is one in a series of examples, before and after he was elected, where he has had trouble getting information from the Tauranga City Council.<\/a><\/p>\n

In another, he said he was asked to pay $3500 for information another council provided for free.<\/p>\n

It comes as the Government progresses a bill from National MP Stuart Smith, supported by Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell, seeking to make information gathering easier for elected council members.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

National MP Stuart Smith. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

In a council meeting on Tuesday last week, Crowther raised his experience with documents relating to landslide risks<\/a> known before the slip.<\/p>\n

The council was discussing its response to former High Court judge Paul Davison\u2019s council-commissioned external review<\/a> into the Mount Maunganui landslide tragedy, which claimed six lives in January<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Crowther told the meeting there should have been more transparency around historical documents and geotechnical reports relating to landslide risks known before the slip.<\/p>\n

He referred to a wider council review of historical records undertaken after the landslide.<\/p>\n

The council has previously said reviews of more than 150,000 documents were underway, covering a range of potential risks across the city rather than solely landslide issues.<\/p>\n

Crowther said about 720 documents available on the council website amounted to roughly one-eighth of the documents provided to Davison and less than 0.5% of the nearly 150,000 documents the council reviewed.<\/p>\n

\"Tauranga<\/p>\n

Tauranga City councillor Glen Crowther. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

“I’ve had to go into a supervised room without a device or without a pen and paper to look at [other documents].”<\/p>\n

Crowther later said he reviewed five documents under those conditions after specifically requesting access.<\/p>\n

He said one document he reviewed appeared relevant to questions about how information was escalated within the organisation, but declined to discuss its contents because it was subject to legal privilege.<\/p>\n

Local Democracy Reporting last Friday approached the council for a response to Crowther\u2019s comments but had not received a response by late on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Crowther earlier told Local Democracy Reporting that councillors did not have automatic access to all council information, and could not force staff to provide information.<\/p>\n

He said he had struggled to get information about the Marine Precinct, water reform discussions, the 15th Ave\/Turret Rd project, property-related matters, and matters connected to Mauao.<\/p>\n

Marine Precinct information \u201ctook a couple of months\u201d. He said even then, it appeared some information was withheld.<\/p>\n

Crowther said being unable to access information, and the council\u2019s main file system, left him at a disadvantage when residents expected answers from elected representatives.<\/p>\n

He said he was not alleging the council had acted illegally, but believed elected members should have greater access to information held within the organisation.<\/p>\n

He said that since being elected, some requests had still been treated like Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) requests.<\/p>\n

He said he also found it hard to get information from the council before he was elected.<\/p>\n

He requested information related to Cameron Rd Stage 1 works under the act.<\/p>\n

After more than 20 days, \u201cthey came back and said, it\u2019ll be $3500\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said he requested the same information from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and received it quicker for free.<\/p>\n

“I thought when I was elected, ‘Thank goodness, now I\u2019m about to see what’s really going on’. But then I still ran into some similar problems.”<\/p>\n

Anyone can request official information from a council under the LGOIMA.<\/p>\n

Councils are generally required to provide the information unless there is a lawful reason to withhold it. They can apply reasonable charges.<\/p>\n

An August report on the council\u2019s LGOIMA and privacy requests for April to June 2026 said the council had handled 141 requests, including 128 under the LGOIMA.<\/p>\n

The report said 82% of these requests were made by individuals, 11% by organisations and 7% by media organisations.<\/p>\n

The council reported the requests consumed an estimated 818 staff hours at a cost of about $112,100.<\/p>\n

The amendment<\/p>\n

Smith, MP for Kaik\u014dura, is behind a Local Government Amendment Bill seeking to make it easier for councillors to obtain information from their councils.<\/p>\n

Smith said his motivation came from recognising that, in practice, significant authority rested with council chief executives rather than elected councillors accountable to their communities.<\/p>\n

“The intent is to ensure that elected councillors can exercise the governance role that voters expect them to perform, while maintaining the operational responsibilities of council staff.”<\/p>\n

He said elected members had reported having information filtered, withheld, or being forced to use formal information request processes.<\/p>\n

He said filtering of information could lead to systemic failure over time with significant financial, productivity, or even health and safety consequences.<\/p>\n

Smith said he had received overwhelming public feedback supporting his bill \u2013 a “good proportion” of this from Tauranga.<\/p>\n

If passed, Smith said the bill would strengthen democratic accountability by clarifying that governance responsibility rests with elected members.<\/p>\n

Uffindell said the amendment aimed to give power back to elected members and get information to them.<\/p>\n

\"Tauranga<\/p>\n

Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

He said councillors in multiple councils had trouble getting information from staff.<\/p>\n

Uffindell said there were numerous examples across the country where elected members had to file LGOIMA requests.<\/p>\n

He claimed information was being “withheld or filtered”.<\/p>\n

“To have council staff stymying them and withholding information or just refusing to give it is really insulting. Frankly it\u2019s not good enough.”<\/p>\n

Uffindell said the bill would require elected members to be provided with the information they requested.<\/p>\n

Staff act in good faith – council<\/p>\n

Tauranga City Council strategy, growth and partnerships general manager Christine Jones earlier responded to the comments by Crowther and Uffindell made before last Tuesday\u2019s council meeting.<\/p>\n

\"Tauranga<\/p>\n

Tauranga City Council strategy, growth and partnerships general manager Christine Jones. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

She said council staff acted in good faith and strived to provide elected members with the information they needed to fulfil their governance responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Jones said staff “make every effort” to do this fully and promptly, recognising the importance of timely information to support decision-making and enable elected members to respond to their communities.<\/p>\n

“The suggestion that council staff are stymying elected members, deliberately withholding information or refusing to assist them does not reflect the approach taken by our teams.”<\/p>\n

She said there were limited circumstances where it would not be appropriate to provide particular information, including legal or statutory restrictions.<\/p>\n

This included employment matters, privacy considerations, or circumstances where disclosure could prejudice the council\u2019s legal position, such as during litigation.<\/p>\n

She said these situations were relatively rare, and where they arose, staff clearly explained the reasons and any constraints to the elected member concerned.<\/p>\n

“Ultimately, the council and its staff operate within the legislative framework that applies and will continue to do so should that framework change.”<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for bill<\/p>\n

Submissions on Smith\u2019s bill have closed. The Select Committee report is due in February, and would be followed by a second reading.<\/p>\n

Smith said the bill was recognised by Act, Greens, Labour and NZ First at its first reading on August 5.<\/p>\n

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Tauranga councillor says he was required to enter a supervised room with no device, pen or paper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1081,42,1242,43,135,1756,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-594556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-accident","tag-headlines","tag-natural-disasters","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-tauranga-bay-of-plenty","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594556","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=594556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}