Central Otago district councillors are all onboard with a Regional Deal proposal that will be submitted to the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) tomorrow.

At yesterday’s council meeting, group manager - community vision Dylan Rushbrook shared a report which he described as “not a pot of gold,” but an opportunity for council to help fund activities in the district.

Although developed in “reasonable haste,” he said it was very much a 30-year vision for both Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes to help build economic growth, deliver connected and resilient infrastructure and improve the supply of affordable quality housing.

While a large majority of councillors supported the deal, Cr Stu Duncan led a discussion about the importance of the farming sector and water security, which he felt was largely missing from the proposal.

“We all know that pinot noir is not the only thing grown in our region.”

Central Otago’s District Council’s group manager - community vision Dylan Rushbrook delivered a persuasive report on how the Regional Deal would work yesterday. FILE SHOT

Water was essential to Otago and Central Otago in particular, and he struggled to understand why more attention wasn’t given to that on the proposal.

The Otago Regional Council was also onboard with the deal, but Cr Duncan believed they had been dragging the chain for a long time when it came to the supply of irrigation.

But Dylan said he understood from discussions with the regional council that they also felt the rural sector was not represented enough.

“The point in all of this is we want to get to the table and then we negotiate.”

Cr Martin McPherson questioned how they responded to questions from the public about the Regional Deal being very Queenstown-centric.

Chief executive Peter Kelly said it was made clear by the Government that they did not want to be negotiating with 67 different councils, but looking for one regional plan from each area.

Cr Duncan questioned if they couldn’t agree with their neighbours in Queenstown Lakes, then how was that any different?

The DIA would assess each regional deal and then the next step was to create Memorandum’s of Understanding (MOU) on how each partnership would work.

“When the deal is signed that’s when you are committed - but that could be nine months away,” Dylan said.

Read more: Otago Central Lakes approach to governments regional deals

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