Face change, bodies told

Press, 13 April 1984, Page 11

Face change, bodies told

PA Nelson Local authorities must face up to change or risk becoming irrelevant to the needs of society, according to the Under-Secretary for Internal Affairs, Mr Thompson.

Speaking at the Municipal Conference at Nelson, he said that just as other sectors of society were being asked to accept the need for change and to accept that there could be other ways of doing things, so too could local government. “The greatest danger for you would be to resist the inevitable changes, to try to hold back the tide like a modern King Canute and, by doing so, face the very real danger of becoming irrelevant to the real needs of our society, as well as irrelevant to the process of finding new and acceptable solutions to the problems confronting us," he said. Mr Thompson said he agreed with the experts that emphasis was shifting to 'general community needs as the pressures for traditional services of water and sewerage services, roads, .and similar amenities receded.

; “This does not mean that local authorities can sit back in the traces. It simply means that priorities will change and services will be

needed for the same people in another form.” Mr Thompson said that the economic climate was hardly conducive to encourage thoughts of more Government money for local authorities but hinted at assistance in a specific sphere. “With the Government’s commitment to regionalism there could be room for some future initiatives on a regional approach that could assist specific functional needs. “However, it would be misleading to suggest that there are any easy solutions, or that immediate relief is at hand." Mr Thompson said that not much progress had been made in finding alternative sources of finance for local government, and that one problem was ensuring that those with the greatest need received the greatest benefit.

“The distortions and inequalities caused by the present structure of our system of local government can simply result in authorities which are really quite well off with little or no public debt, being assisted, while the position of others with very considerable difficulties is not really improved,” he said.