Northland Waters FAQs

A CCO is a Council-controlled organisation.

In New Zealand local government, a council controlled organisation is a company or other entity that is owned or controlled by one or more councils, but operates at arm's length from them on a day to day basis.

In simple terms:

• the councils own it (and set expectations)
• a Board governs it
• management runs operations independently
• it is accountable to councils through formal reporting, statements of intent, and shareholder oversight.

Stormwater assets will remain with their respective councils in terms of decision making and costs, however a shared service arrangement may be made with the council-controlled organisation (CCO) for operations.

This is because many critical parts of the system are shared across other council services too.

For example, roads drain stormwater during heavy rain, and green spaces in parks and reserves are often designed to capture excess water where possible.

The three district councils have agreed to a budget of $1.5m for the first phase of implementation (scoping and preparation) at a council meeting in August 2025.

A forecast of total establishment costs, based on the likely scope, timeframes and resource costs to deliver, is tentatively estimated at $8m to $15m. This consists of approximately $5m to $8m in establishment costs alongside $3m to $7m in IT costs (both implementation and licensing costs).

The final establishment budget would need to be refined based on stakeholder expectations.

Following each council's adoption of the joint water services delivery plan, a commitment agreement was signed by each council's Chief Executive.

This agreement included that Whangarei District Council is to be the lead council whose responsibilities include:

• managing project expenditure and tracing against the project budget
• preparing agendas and scheduling governance meetings for the project
• preparing reporting for governance meetings for the project
• entering into agreements for the benefit of the project.

Councils have agreed in principle to an equal shareholding arrangement, whereby shares are divided equally between each participating council.

Whangarei District Council has used funding from ratepayers to invest heavily in water infrastructure in the past and, compared with many other councils, we are in good shape to meet our District's current and future water service needs.

We investigated and consulted on two options for water services delivery between 2 April and 2 May 2025. These included:

• Option 1 (our preferred option): In-house business unit with increased collaboration with Northland councils
• Option 2: Northland Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) with Kaipara District Council and Far North District Council (drinking water and wastewater only).

More information on each option can be found in our consultation document:

Local Water Done Well consultation document(PDF, 512KB)

We received 73 submissions, with overall sentiment weighted in favour of Option 1. Of the submissions related to Local Water Done Well, approximately 73% leaned towards option 1, while 19% leaned toward option 2, and 8% did not show a clear preference.

Following community consultation, Northland's district councils formed a cross-council elected members steering group to explore collaboration options.

After carefully assessing the benefits and risks of the various options proposed by each district and the results of community consultation, it concluded that a Northland Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) offered the strongest path forward for the region.

A full report of submissions can be found in the appendices of the 28 May 2025 Council Briefing agenda:

Council briefing agenda, 28 May 2025

With Whangarei's water services in comparatively good shape and its assets carrying very little debt, a key concern for Whangarei District Council and the community was that Whangārei may end up cross-subsidising water costs for neighbouring districts if a council-controlled organisation (CCO) was formed.

To start with, the CCO will use a financial model that recognises the different starting points of each council in terms of water assets, debt levels and infrastructure investment needs.

The CCO will see financials ring-fenced for each district and water charges will be non-harmonised, meaning water charges will be different for residents in each district.

This will be reviewed within the first three years of operations, but doesn't necessarily mean the model will change at that time.

Whangarei District Council will also transfer $100 million of debt to the CCO at inception, which will significantly reduce Whangarei District Council's overall debt levels and ensure that the contributions from the three councils to the CCO balance sheet are better aligned from day one.

The cost of delivering water services is expected to increase in the future, no matter how they are delivered.

This comes down to increasing regulatory requirements, the rising costs of maintenance and renewals, and the need to invest in infrastructure to ensure we prepare for future growth and respond to extreme weather.

Today, Whangarei District Council covers water costs almost entirely with funding from ratepayers with very low levels of debt on our water assets.

To help manage the expected rise in water costs in the future, the council-controlled organisation (CCO) will use debt to fund some assets and therefore share the assets' costs between current and future users.

Using this approach means all the people using an asset end up paying for it over its lifetime, and water charges for Whangārei users could come down, or increase at a lesser rate.

The CCO will also start with non-harmonised water charges, meaning water charges are different for ratepayers in each district. For Whangārei, this means water charges would not increase more than they would if services were kept in-house. This will be reviewed within the first three years of operations, but doesn't necessarily mean the model will change at that time.

As the economic regulator for water services under the Local Water Done Well regime, the Commerce Commission will promote consumer interests and help ensure customers receive value for money for the services provided.

Financially, Whangarei District Council is in a strong position to absorb the changes brought about by water services being separated from council.

Our Long Term Plan and Financial Strategy laid the groundwork for changes under Local Water Done Well and there is headroom to incur debt if it were required due to the loss of revenue generated from water services.

It is likely there will be impact on some staff as Council adjusts to service a slightly smaller operation and some staff may transition to the water council-controlled organisation (CCO).

The CCO will be operational from July 2027 and we will use the establishment and transition phase to work through options.

No. We anticipate the new council-controlled organisation (CCO) will maintain the same high level of service delivery our District enjoys today.

While current projects will continue under the new council-controlled organisation (CCO), projects will need to be prioritised based on the need across the region, as opposed to one district.

Prioritisation will consider health and safety, compliance, renewals, environmental impacts and growth as we do today.