Christchurch City Council will remain a member of Local Government New Zealand after two city councillors asked the council to leave.

Sam MacDonald and Jake McLellan pushed for the organisation to leave, unhappy at LGNZ’s supportive position on Government water reforms.

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel said “rather than walk away from LGNZ, we want to work with them to strengthen their voice and enhance their leadership so that we can all have more influence.”

During her tenure as Christchurch’s mayor, the Council was forced to chlorinate the city’s water supply, and the Government has already decided to take control of all water infrastructure from the council.

Dalziel said “big changes are ahead for local government as central government rolls out its multi-faceted reform programme so it would be unwise for us to withdraw from LGNZ – which is our sector’s key advocacy body – at this critical point.”

The mayor is going to “write to LGNZ advising that the Council expects the lessons learned through the three waters reform process will be embedded into better practice so it does not happen again.”

Councillor Sara Templeton said LGNZ had been supportive of her career development.

“The training I’ve had through the various workshops and webinars has been incredibly helpful in my development as a councillor and when I was Community Board Chair, whether it’s on the RMA, or pecuniary interest to transport issues.”

The Mayor will write to the Prime Minister “expressing the Council’s disappointment at the implications of the Heads of Agreement signed between LGNZ and the Government.”

Councillor MacDonald said “the people of Christchurch deserve far better.

“They want action and not words. People need to stand up and represent the people of Christchurch, not side with a lobby group in Wellington, who quite frankly, have not been doing their job.”

Ten councillors voted in favour of retaining LGNZ membership, while seven voted to leave.

James Gough, Phil Mauger, Aaron Keown, Yani Johanson and Catherine Chu joined McLellan and MacDonald to leave LGNZ.