Council union
Details of the proposal for the union of Nelson and Tasman district are available in hard form at the Takaka Service Centre and online. The GB Weekly will be publishing regular excerpts to keep people informed:
Community boards’ powers
The Local Government Commission has set out powers that community boards should have in the proposed union of Nelson and Tasman. They are shown below.
Meanwhile, the Tasman District Council considered a report from its CEO, Paul Wylie, in which he recommends that the powers suggested by the LGC be approved in principle.
Council has been reviewing its relationships with community boards for more than a year but it left the question of delegations on the table because of “the lack of guidance in the legislation”. It relied on legal advice that delegations should not be given unless they passed the “efficiency and effectiveness test”, said Mr Wylie’s report.
“The LGC has now provided formal advice as to what it believes are the appropriate roles for community boards,” said Mr Wylie. “This guidance is the missing piece of the jigsaw as it provides clear guidelines that could be implemented immediately.”
The council accepted Mr Wylie’s recommendations by 10 votes to four. The dissenting votes came from Crs Bryant, Edgar, Norriss and Dowler. This means that the Golden Bay Community Board will consider the recommendations urgently and send a response to council in time for its meeting on 11 August. The board is already considering its submission on the proposed union but, at a workshop last week, they welcomed the opportunity to talk to council about widened delegations.
Powers of Community Boards
(1) Community boards shall have responsibility to:
(a) facilitate engagement of their community in relation to policies, plans and projects proposed for their community.
(b) advise the council on the priorities and preferences of their community in respect of the level and nature of local services to be provided by the council–in their community.
(c) advise the council on variations in levels of service provided to their community compared to planned levels of service.
(d) where preferred service levels in their community are higher than default levels, advise the council on the recommended funding mechanism.
(e) undertake activities for which a budget has been allocated by the council to the board.
(2) Community boards shall have delegated authority, in accordance with the policies, plans and bylaws of the council, to:
(a) allocate funding and operational grants to local community groups in their community
(b) manage, maintain and approve usage (including hireage charges) of community halls in their community
(c) seek funding (to be held by the council) from external organisations which can be applied to community projects within their community,
(d) make recommendations to the council on the granting of leases or licences on reserves and public spaces in their community,
(e) make recommendations to the council on proposed developments or activities on local parks, reserves and waterways in their community,
(f) make recommendations to the council on submissions and objections in relation to statutory processes.
(g) approve traffic control and constraint measures, parking restrictions and traffic control signs on streets in their community (eg, stop and give way signs, etc).
(h) approve the design and location of bus stops and shelters in their community.
(i) approve the design and location of neighbourhood improvements, such as street furniture, in their community.
(j) approve names of roads, streets and parks in their community.
(k) grant consent for the removal of trees from parks, reserves, streets or other council land in their community.
(l) authorise, within approved budgets, board member attendance at appropriate conferences and training courses.
(from the LGC’s Draft Reorganisation Scheme for the Union of Nelson City and Tasman District).
