National's policy committee has been mulling the findings of the party's Have Your Say consultation campaign, with reportedly more than 10,000 respondents. The dampening concern is that the councils themselves are unreasonably burdened by the financial models under which they must operate and the service delivery expected of them. The Government has reintroduced the "four wellbeings" into considerations councils are by law required to factor into their decisions. Should councils be doing more, doing less, or just doing it all better? In truth the answers are woven around all three imperatives but it should never be forgotten that national government rule-setting plays a huge part in how local government performs.

Source: Stuff May 13, 2019 16:52 UTC