New unitary councils appear set to take on regional council functions from October 2028, but one Canterbury councillor has called it ‘‘lazy thinking’’. Speaking at an Environment Canterbury (ECan) workshop on Wednesday (May 13), South Canterbury councillor Peter Scott said local councils were not ready to take on the regional council’s functions. "It is lazy thinking to say unitaries are the only option for us.’’ Regional council functions include administering the Resource Management Act or its replacement, pest control, emergency management, public transport, flood mitigation and river management. Cr Scott said ‘‘institutional knowledge’’ on river catchment management had been established over decades of work back to the 1950s. "We put that to the Timaru District Council yesterday and they didn’t have a clue.…