Selwyn District Mayor Lydia Gliddon is calling on central government to give Canterbury a bigger slice of the national infrastructure pie, saying the region’s contribution to New Zealand’s economy is not matched by the investment coming back.

Speaking to Chris Lynch Media, the mayor said Canterbury was the “powerhouse of the South Island” but was being short changed when it came to transport funding.

“It’s old news and we’ve been advocating for central government for quite some time around Canterbury receiving its fair share,” she said. “Canterbury is the powerhouse of the South Island and the regional GDP that we contribute to, the return on that is not equal.”

Her comments follow a recent Facebook post from Environment Canterbury chair Deon Swiggs, who suggested the region was not getting its fair share of infrastructure investment despite its economic contribution.

Gliddon said the solution was for Canterbury leaders to present a united front to Wellington.

“It’s about everyone being on the same page. We’re really joined up in our approach around regional funding for transport here. We have a role of advocacy and saying, hey, actually what we contribute in GDP, our road user charges, fuel excise tax, we contribute to all of that. We need our fair share back.”

Annual plan draws 400 submissions

With the Selwyn District Council’s annual plan consultation open until April 26, the council has received around 400 submissions so far.

Gliddon said the dominant theme in the feedback was cost of living pressure.

“The biggest thing we’re hearing from people is affordability and savings. We’re making great steps in that direction of savings for our community and taking that big steer towards the long term plan, which we start with a clean sheet of paper.”

She acknowledged the council had work to do on community engagement.

“We know we’ve got some time to go and we’re rebuilding our community engagement as well. We know that we’ve got to make amends, and this is the first part of that.”

Emergency services hub plan scrapped in Rolleston

The mayor confirmed the council voted on Wednesday to revoke a previous resolution to establish an emergency services hub on council owned land in central Rolleston.

Gliddon said the site, in the middle of a residential area, was no longer considered the right fit.

“I just don’t know if our residents actually want an emergency services hub right there. We recognise that we do have other blocks of land in Rolleston that might be more appropriate.”

She stressed the project itself was not being shelved.

“It’s not actually killing that project. What it is doing is recognising that’s not the most appropriate place for it. We want to work with our emergency services providers in Rolleston and Selwyn to find the best location.”

Rates refunds on the way

Gliddon also confirmed ratepayers affected by a rates overcharging error would see refunds applied to their fourth quarter installment.

“The data has been quantified now, so we are clear on what that looks like for our ratepayers. Everyone will see in their quarter four installment a refund. There will be a credit line on your rates demand.”

The council has published a detailed FAQ on its website and will release the full report into what went wrong.

“People can go there to find out more information. The report is being released to the public as well, so they can see what’s happened, what’s gone wrong, and what we’re actually doing to fix this.”

The mayor said sorting the issue quickly was a priority.

“This is some of the steps that we are taking in our first six months of ironing out the challenges that we have in our organisation. I’m really proud of the team. We’ve done this quickly enough. We know that it needs to be settled this financial year so that we can have a clean start next financial year.”

Asked whether she was confident the overcharging would not happen again, Gliddon was unequivocal: “Absolutely.”