Ms ?ine Stapleton:

What we intend is to hand over the authority to the individual local authorities to make the decision on the acquisition, once that acquisition is within the cost acquisition upper threshold guideline. Generally speaking, I know from talking to my colleagues from the Department, the vast majority of acquisitions come within those thresholds. We have made it very clear to colleagues in the County and City Managers Association, CCMA, that where something is above the higher threshold, they can still come to the Department and have that looked at if they feel it is appropriate for acquisition.