Ashburton mayor Neil Brown is looking forward to conversations with ministers around the details of regional deals.

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown said it was critically important New Zealand delivered the long-term infrastructure needed for growth, and his solution is establishing regional deals with councils.

“Regional deals will be used to help coordinate capital investment between central and local government and will also be a tool to enable regions to utilise new and existing funding tools to fund and finance this infrastructure.”

Mayor Brown said Ashburton needs a second bridge and would look at whether that could be built as part of a regional deal.

“There’s probably a few ways to fund it, whether it’s from taxes, rates, or tolls.

“So let’s look at them, work through them, and find the one that works best,” he said

Under a new regional deal framework, central government will provide councils with funding tools to afford new infrastructure and other investments.

Five regions will be invited to provide proposals, with the first finalised by next year.

The deals will be focussed on economic growth and productivity, delivering resilient critical infrastructure, and improving the supply of affordable, quality housing, Minister Brown said.