The South Island Report is a new regular series on the issues, challenges and decisions affecting the South Island, the issues often missed by Auckland focused national media.

The Government’s blunt message to local councils, “lead your own reform or have it imposed on you” has the full backing of South Island Minister James Meager, who says now is the time to redraw the map of local government, and the South Island should be at the front of the queue.

Speaking on the inaugural episode of The South Island Report, Meager said the day to day functioning of councils was not the problem.

The real frustration, particularly across Mid and South Canterbury, sat with how regional councils had approached growth and development.

“There are some structural issues. I think for a long time, particularly if you live in and around Canterbury, particularly if you live in and around Mid and South Canterbury, people have had an issue with the way the regional councils have approached things. They’ve been very anti development, anti growth and have put a lot of hurdles in the way of good people trying to do good things. And quite frankly, I think most locals have had enough.”

He said people across South Canterbury were tired of being “dictated to from Christchurch”, and that frustration was echoed well beyond his own electorate. The incoming RMA reform, he said, was the trigger that would force local government’s hand.

“The RMA is coming. It’s going to change the system drastically. And so we don’t see a future for regional councils under that system. And for local councils, it’s time for you guys to lead the reform. Lead what you want to look like, or else it’ll be led for you.”

Asked whether the reform risked simply repackaging the same problem on a bigger scale, Meager was clear that he did not see one Canterbury wide regional unitary as a viable end state.

“I can’t see a proposal where you just replace the current system of a regional layer across all of our Canterbury councils with one large regional unitary. I don’t think that would work. I don’t think that would be popular, and I don’t think that would be accepted by, well, most of the smaller councils, including my own.”

He pointed to the safeguards built into the Government’s process. Proposals must be backed by majorities of the councils involved and meet a clear criteria list covering efficiency, local representation, decision making and shared services.

“There’s a whole range of things that will protect the local aspect of it. Ultimately, I think the message that we’ve got probably too many layers of government in a country our size is one that people accept and it resonates across the country. We’ve just decided that look, now’s the time to rip the bandaid off and do it. Get it done.”

Meager said the unitary authority model was no foreign concept in this part of the country, with Tasman, Nelson and Marlborough already operating that way.

“You can actually make unitaries work. The feedback I’ve had from the mayors, particularly when they’re dealing with local emergencies or decisions that need to be made quickly, is that they can get those done because all of the decision makers are in the same room and they’re all making decisions on a local basis.”

Meager said the Government had heard the public and mayors push back on the idea of combined territorial boards, fearing they would simply pile on another layer of complexity. Instead, a 2028 deadline has been set for regional councils to be wound up, with local councils now expected to pitch their own preferred shape.

He said he had already taken the question to his constituents.

“I’ve actually thrown that up on Facebook a few minutes ago for my communities to say, well, what do you want South Canterbury councils to look like? What do you want Mid Canterbury to look like? Actually, what does the wider South Island want their local government to look like?”

He said proposals that met the criteria would be moved through the new fast track pathway quickly.

“I’d like to see the South Island councils at the top of the queue, like we were with some of the water but not like we were with some of the regional deals where I think we fell behind a bit.”

Meager met with South Island mayors in Christchurch on Friday at the Local Government New Zealand Zone 5 and 6 symposium. Reform was raised, but the mayors’ main priorities were elsewhere.

“How do they grow their communities? How do they grow their local economies? How do we invest in good resilient infrastructure? And how do we get good public service delivery in the south?”

Priorities varied by patch. Central Otago and Queenstown were grappling with transport pressures and rapid growth. In Meager’s own Timaru patch, the focus was on attracting health professionals, businesses and families to drive growth.

He said he was happy to advocate for projects right across the region, including new hospital facilities in Dunedin and Nelson, transport solutions in Queenstown and stronger growth in South Canterbury.

Asked what becomes of the reform if National loses the next election, Meager said he and his colleagues were not entertaining that scenario.

“Our view is that that’s not a future worth considering. So we don’t have that in our planning.”

He said the existing Local Government Commission pathway would continue regardless, with Southland already going through that slower, more complicated process. He took a swipe at the Opposition for what he sees as a lack of policy detail in this space.

“We put out our ideas. We say what we’re going to do. We say what our policies are. And then you get a little bit of push back and criticism but no answers from the other side as to what they’re going to do. So we don’t have a sense as to whether or not they support this. I think they’d be crazy not to.”

The interview also covered the recently fast tracked Pound Road project in Christchurch, which Meager said was first and foremost about creating more housing capacity.

“The number one benefit is going to be more housing capacity. There’s a bit of commercial development that can happen around that area, but when you create opportunities for more housing, you create more choice for people.”

He linked the development to the post earthquake opening up of land around Christchurch, which he said had unlocked roughly 30 years of supply, made housing more affordable and helped attract young families south. Similar opportunities, he said, were being created in Rolleston, Lincoln and developments to the north of the city.

On planned changes to Crown pastoral lease land in the South Island high country, Meager pushed back against any suggestion the reform was a doorway to large scale commercial development.

“It’s unlikely you’re going to see things like mass native afforestation or logging or anything like that. The practical difficulty of that would speak for itself.”

The intent, he said, was to give lease holders more options to extract economic value from often inhospitable terrain. That could include solar to power residential quarters, beehives for honey production or small scale tourist accommodation, with the overall pastoral character of the land protected as a backstop. Because the land remained under pastoral lease, he said, additional revenue would flow back to the Crown.

“It actually helps pay for our hospitals and our schools and our police officers.”

Closing on a lighter note, Meager said his only shot fired over opening weekend of duck shooting was a verbal one, aimed at potential protesters after disruption at Lake Ellesmere last year.

“If you’re looking to agitate, harass or annoy, just don’t. Just have a sleep in for the weekend. Let people do what they’ve been doing for years.”

Opening weekend, he said, was about much more than the shooting. Game bird numbers were managed, food was put on the table, skills were passed down through generations, and friendships were rekindled.

“It gives people a chance to catch up and just be with each other. We don’t do enough of that, I think, anymore in a day where you and I can have this interview online. It’s so easy to connect with people that we actually don’t take time to get outside and reconnect in person.”

The South Island Report is a new regular series on the issues, challenges and decisions affecting the South Island, the issues often missed by Auckland focused national media.