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Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025

Structural arrangements for providing water services - Responsibility for providing water services - Significance and engagement policy

35: Water organisation’s policy: content and purpose

You could also call this:

"What a water organisation's policy must include and why it's important"

Illustration for Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025

A water organisation must have a policy that explains how it decides what is important and how it talks to the people it serves. You will want to know what this policy includes, such as how the organisation decides what is significant, and how it engages with its community. The policy must also say how the organisation will respond to what the community wants.

The organisation's policy must cover all the things that this Act says it must do. This means the policy must include everything that is required for the organisation to make good decisions and to talk to the people it serves.

The purpose of the policy is to help the organisation and the people it serves understand what is important and how the organisation will engage with them. You can expect the policy to say how the organisation will work with its shareholders, the people it serves, and the community to make decisions. The policy must also provide clarity on how and when the community can expect to be involved in decisions, and how the organisation will take into account the views of the community.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1430824.

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34: Territorial authority’s policy, or

"A territorial authority's policy must be updated to suit its water service provider role and responsibilities."

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36: Water organisation’s policy: specific content, or

"What a water organisation's policy must include"

Part 2Structural arrangements for providing water services
Responsibility for providing water services: Significance and engagement policy

35Water organisation’s policy: content and purpose

  1. A water organisation must adopt a significance and engagement policy setting out the following:

  2. the organisation’s general approach to determining the significance of proposals and decisions in relation to issues, water services infrastructure, and other matters:
    1. any criteria or procedures that the organisation will use in assessing the extent to which issues, proposals, water services infrastructure, decisions, or activities are significant or may have significant consequences:
      1. the organisation’s general approach to engaging with consumers and communities, including the circumstances in which engagement will be undertaken by—
        1. the organisation; or
          1. the organisation’s shareholders:
          2. how the organisation will respond to community preferences about engagement on decisions relating to specific issues, water services infrastructure, or other matters, including the form of engagement that may be desirable:
            1. any particular approaches or arrangements for engaging with particular relevant communities (for example, iwi, hapū, and other Māori organisations in the water organisation’s service area).

              1. The water organisation must also ensure that its significance and engagement policy sets out all relevant matters relating to specific decisions and actions that this Act requires to be made or done in accordance with a water service provider’s significance and engagement policy.

              2. The purpose of the policy is—

              3. to enable the organisation, its shareholders, its consumers, and its communities to identify the degree of significance attached to particular issues, proposals, water services infrastructure, decisions, and activities; and
                1. to enable the organisation to develop a flexible and locally appropriate approach to engagement, which recognises and accommodates the preferences and expectations of—
                  1. its shareholders; and
                    1. its consumers; and
                      1. its shareholders’ communities; and
                        1. any particular communities specified in the policy (for example, iwi, hapū, and other Māori organisations in the water organisation’s service area); and
                        2. to provide clarity about—
                          1. how and when communities can expect to be engaged in decisions about different issues, water services infrastructure, or other matters; and
                            1. whether engagement will be undertaken by the organisation or its shareholders; and
                              1. how the organisation will take account of consumer and community views on matters on which the organisation’s shareholders have expressed a view; and
                              2. to inform the organisation from the beginning of a decision-making process about—
                                1. the extent of any engagement that is expected before a particular decision is made; and
                                  1. with whom the engagement occurs (for example, shareholders, consumers, particular communities, or the general public); and
                                    1. the form or type of engagement required.

                                    2. Without limiting this section, the policy must include all matters required by the organisation’s shareholders.

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