What does the District Health Board do?

This article provides some information for voters in the upcoming local body elections about what Environment Canterbury does. 
It is part of a series of four posts (linked below) that introduce the duties of the councils that we are voting for in this year's local body elections.  

What does the city council do?
What do community boards do? and 
What does Environment Canterbury do?
 

There are 20 district health boards across New Zealand and they are there to set the overall strategic direction of health services in their area and to monitor performance. They are required to plan and deliver health services regionally, as well as in their own individual areas.

Their objectives include:

•  Improving, promoting and protecting the health of people and communities
•  Promoting the integration of health services, especially primary (eg doctors) and secondary care (eg hospitals) services
• Seeking to arrange the most effective and efficient delivery of health services to meet local, regional, and national needs
•  Promoting effective care or support of those in need of personal health services or disability support.
• Helping people with disabilities to be independent, included and to participate in society
• Reducing health differences by improving health outcomes for Māori and other population groups
• Aiming to eliminate differences in health outcomes between various population groups.
• DHBs must show a sense of social responsibility, foster community participation in health improvement, and uphold the ethical and quality standards commonly expected of providers of services and public sector organisations.

Public hospitals are owned and funded by DHBs.

What do community boards do?

This article provides some information for voters in the upcoming local body elections about what Environment Canterbury does.
It is part of a series of four posts (linked below) that introduce the duties of the councils that we are voting for in this year's local body elections. 

What does the city council do?
What does Environment Canterbury do? and
What do District Health boards do? 



Community Boards are a part of Christchurch City Council 

In Christchurch, we have seven Community Boards, representing 16 Christchurch wards.  Each ward has two community board representatives and their City Councillor on their community board

They work with your community to help meet local needs, goals and aspirations and to communicate these to the Council.

Each Community Board has a three-year plan outlining its priorities and guiding its decisions.

The Community Boards' main roles are to:

• Represent and act as an advocate for the interests of its community 
• Consider and report on all matters referred to it by the Council, or any matter of interest to the board
• Maintain an overview of services provided by the Council within the community
• Prepare an annual submission to the Council for expenditure within the community
• Communicate with community organisations and special interest groups within the community

What does the City Council do?

This article provides some information for voters in the upcoming local body elections about what Environment Canterbury does.
It is part of a series of four posts (linked below) that introduce the duties of the councils that we are voting for in this year's local body elections. 

What does Environment Canterbury do?
What do community boards do? and
What do District Health boards do? 



 The Christchurch City Council is a large organisation that is charged with looking after the wellbeing of the citizens of Christchurch.  

Three Waters: It provides safe drinking water, processes wastewater and  manages stormwater including looking after all the pipes for transporting these different waters.

Roads footpaths and transport facilities: It looks after most of the roads around the City, and many transport facilities from bus stops and bus stations to cyclepaths, footpaths and carparking.  

Social Wellbeing:  It writes development and management plans of many different types, contributes to social housing, contributes to economic development and supports community groups around the City.  It also runs events and activities and generally makes our city a good place to live in.

Waste Management:  The council deals with our waste and rubbish collection, 

Civil defence and hazard management it works to manage flooding and prevent damage to property, It had an important role in the Port Hills Fires and in the aftermath of the earthquakes. 

The elected council oversees this and works with staff to prioritise spending and services across the City. In Christchurch at present, There is a lot going on to rebuild the city so we have more than our fair share of maintaining and replacing buildings and negotiating with central government and the business community to progress the city’s recovery. 

As a result of all this, the Christchurch City Council has a significant impact on the lives of people living in Christchurch and electing people to set the council’s direction and authorise its spending is a serious job that we all have every three years. 

Councillors do a lot of reading and learning about these services, a lot of work to help people in their communities and spend a lot of time in meetings discussing the issues and making decisions, hopefully in the best interests of our city.  It is not an easy task and it takes peoples with patience and a capacity to understand what is going on both locally and at national level. 

What Does Environment Canterbury Do?

This article provides some information for voters in the upcoming local body elections about what Environment Canterbury does. 
It is part of a series of four posts (linked below) that introduce the duties of the councils that we are voting for in this year's local body elections.  

What does the city council do?
What do community boards do? and 
What do District Health boards do?
 

The Environment Canterbury Annual plan  outlines how the council will spends its money.  The budgeted work is divided into 6 work portfolios.

1) Freshwater Management

The Canterbury Regional Council looks after water quality and water quantity in our rivers, lakes and aquifers. They are guided in this by the Resource Management Act and by guidelines in National Policy Statements put together by central government. Doing this water work also needs the Council to work with Zone committees Ngāi Tahu, local councils, health boards, central government, and Canterbury communities.

2) Biodiversity & Biosecurity

Regional councils have a duty to protect and restore our native ecosystems and to help with managing both plant and animal pests. There are four main focus areas for this portfolio – regional biodiversity, braided rivers, wetlands and biosecurity

3) Hazards Risk and Resilience

This is all about civil defence and being ready for major events.  One of the most important parts of this in Christchurch has been developing stopbanks to protect the City from flooding from the Waimakariri. 

4) Transport and Urban development

This is Environment Canterbury’s largest budget item and most of it is spent on providing bus services in and around Greater Christchurch and Timaru. Public transport services also depend in part on Central Government policy and funding. These govern how bus services are procured and contracted out as well as what subsidy is available to users of bus services.
The Regional Council must also work with City and District Councils. The City council in Christchurch provides bus stops, bus lanes and facilities like the central city bus station and the Riccarton facilities. These things can make a big difference to how comfortable bus travel is.

5) Air Quality

The regional council looks after air pollution and they have made a significant difference to air quality in Christchurch particularly during the winter months. This work continues and through it they help people with insulating their homes and replacing wood burners with clean burners or heat pumps.

6) Regional Leadership

This portfolio is about building and maintaining relationships with other councils, with communities, with Ngai Tahu and government agencies and it helps to enable the work in the other portfolios.