Chch reform plans must await law

Press, 27 January 1988, Page 6

Chch reform plans must await law

Local government reform in Christchurch will not go ahead under existing law. The chairman of the Local Government Commission, Mr Brian Elwood, said yesterday that Christchurch’s was not one of two further proposals the commission hoped to process far enough to meet the March 31 date set by the Government in its economic statement last year. Proposals that have not become a final approved

scheme by the end of March must wait for the new legislation promised by the Government. Mr Elwood said he believed only two more proposals, both for North Island areas, could reach the appropriate stage before the deadline. Christchurch will have to wait for the guidelines given to the commission in the new law and comprehensive review of local government. Mr Elwood repeated that the guidelines would

need to be available to the commission by June or July for it to meet the Government’s target of reform in time for the October, 1989, local body elections. ■ However, Mr Elwood warned councils not to stop thinking about reforms. When the decisions flowed they would have to do so quickly, he said, and councils would need to be ready. “There is nothing to stop the thinking and planning going on,” he said.