Tasman District Council has recently reallocated some of its unspent Better Off Funding (BOF) to increase water infrastructure investment and the development of our Water Services Delivery Plans.

With the change in Government and the introduction of the Local Water Done Well programme, Department of Internal Affairs – through Crown Infrastructure Partners – has been working alongside council to identify any opportunities to redirect unspent Better Off funding towards water-related investment.

Projects where either the whole project or components of a project have not been committed to were prioritised in this decision.

A total of $713,200 will be redirected under this change. 

$200,000 will benefit water supply projects in Motueka, $5000 for installation of CCTV at Collingwood’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, while the other $508,200 will go towards establishing the water services delivery plan and establishment of a Council-controlled organisation (CCO) to implement the Local Water Done Well programme.

We are aiming to start on these new projects later this year.
 
Tasman received $5.64 million in 2021 from DIA to benefit the wider community and iwi outcomes through tranche one of the Government’s Three Waters Better Off Support Package.

This has helped a number of worthwhile initiatives and improvements get off the ground within the region, and in many cases to completion.

Four Tasman BOF projects have been subject to the funding reallocation, although three of these have only had a partial amount of redirected.

Project  

Approved Completion Date

BoF funding  

Claimed from CIP to date  

Still to be claimed from CIP

Amount Redirecting  

Catchment Enhancement Initiatives

30-Jun-24

$200,000

$19,800

 

$180,200

Programme Management 

30-Jun-27

$500,000

$87,833

$167,167

$250,000

Streets for People 

30-Jun-24

$333,000

$100,000

 

$233,000

Tākaka Youth Bike / Skate Park

31-May-24

$50,000

$0.00

 

$50,000

Total  

 

 

 

 

$713,200

Unfortunately, we were unable to proceed with Tākaka Skate and Bike Park which meant the full $50,000 BOF provision for a feasibility study, community engagement, and design was also included in the funds redirected.

Certainty around the purchase of land for the park was required by Council before we proceeded with any work on the project and despite an extension being granted to us, we made a decision based on the acknowledgement it would not be achieved by the approved completion date of May 31.