Source: Radio New Zealand
Some mayors say council reforms will help communities gain their voice, while others fear they’ll lose their identity.
Ministers on Tuesday gave councils an ultimatum: come up with plans within three months or the government will do it for you.
Councils were to form voluntary groups and present their ideas to government about how they wanted to reorganise.
Local Government Minister Simon Watts and RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop said there was broad support from councils, and some had already made headway on plans.
Simon Watts and Chris Bishop at the announcement giving councils a three-month deadline for their reorganisation plans to be delivered. SAMUEL RILLSTONE / RNZ
Others with a history of disagreement on the matter told RNZ three months was not a lot of time.
Nelson mayor Nick Smith has long held the view that merging with Tasman was “the right answer” for his city, citing common interests and unnecessary duplication.
Nelson voted in favour of amalgamation in 2012 – but Tasman voted against.
“I think time has moved on,” Smith said.
“I hope my Tasman colleagues recognise that the ‘do nothing’ option is not going to be consistent with the direction of government.”
But Tasman mayor Tim King was leaning towards waiting for the government’s “backstop” process which would force reform before the 2028 local elections.
He would have preferred central government just decide on the country’s local government model, “rather than the divisive argument that inevitably comes with communities trying to thrash out these sort of governance arrangements for themselves”.
The biggest problem councils faced was financial pressure, and amalgamation “doesn’t necessarily save money and it doesn’t necessarily make everything magically better,” King said.
Bespoke, different structures around the country were not the most efficient or effective system, he said.
Nelson Mayor Nick Smith has long held the view that merging with Tasman was “the right answer” for his city. RNZ / Samantha Gee
The rural – urban divide
Southland mayor Rob Scott is ready to go, having already proposed creating two unitary authorities – one for Invercargill, and for the rural areas of Southland District and Gore District.
“Trying to run them under one council … you’d end up with a very city-centric kind of approach,” he said.
Fewer, bigger councils, with community boards, was “the right way to go”, Scott said.
“It’s actually decentralising … and putting a whole lot of power into our community boards and getting that real localised decision-making happening, which I believe is the actual blueprint for how we should run local government in New Zealand.”
But Gore mayor Ben Bell was less convinced, saying it would be “incredibly complicated” to effectively split the regional council in two.
A single council would probably make the most sense, he said: “not that I necessarily support it”.
“If the numbers stack up, and it’s the right thing for our ratepayers, and that’s what they want, then absolutely … I do what the ratepayers want me to do,” he said.
“But there is also a real big call from … the rural part of our communities, that they want to keep their rural identity, and that merging with the city would make it more of an urban identity.”
Gore mayor Ben Bell says he does what the ratepayers want him to do so it must be the right thing for them. Supplied / Facebook
Timaru mayor Nigel Bowen looked forward to teaming up with smaller councils, escaping the influence of bigger cities.
“We’ve long had the complaint … that you’ve got that urban voice seat sitting in Christchurch that can dominate a regional council table, and effectively they’re making regional policy decisions for rural communities, and that’s been a real concern of ours for some time,” he said.
The “obvious” option was to join the other two South Canterbury councils – Mackenzie and Waimate – and potentially Ashburton and Waitaki which would offer even more scale, he said.
Bowen said rural councils might be worried they’d be swallowed up by bigger councils, but said there were ways to ensure local voices were heard – like having more local boards.
“I would hope that councils see this as an opportunity to lead their own destiny, rather than have it done to them.”
Timaru mayor Nigel Bowen is looking forward to teaming up with smaller councils. RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Councils press on with plans already underway
The three Wairarapa councils had already been discussing either merging themselves, or going even wider and joining up with the Wellington region.
South Wairarapa mayor Dame Fran Wilde was pleased the reform announcement seemed to leave room for “bespoke arrangements” so new entities would not be forced to follow Auckland’s model.
Auckland has 21 local boards responsible for local decision-making, and Wilde said while they were big, they did not have much power.
“My view has always been that that is the wrong model, that if they want more unitaries, big unitaries, they need to give more power to the local authorities,” she said.
“I get the impression from what the government has said that this is a possibility if we ask for it.”
South Wairarapa Mayor Dame Fran Wilde was pleased the reform announcement seemed to leave room for “bespoke arrangements”. Supplied
Whangārei mayor Ken Couper said despite Northland already being well into amalgamation talks, the three-month timeframe would be “quite a challenge”.
“But … I guess what they’re clearly saying to us is, if we want to have a ‘for Northland, by Northland’ solution, then this is our opportunity.
“So that should be enough impetus for us to take it really seriously, rather than wait around and have something imposed on us that we may not like.”
The announcement strengthened the process that was already started, he said.
Taranaki councils were also “early adopters”, having already begun conversations, said New Plymouth Mayor Max Brough.
Whether or not they would be able to agree on a plan within three months was the “billion dollar question”, he said.
“I guess if we don’t, we can sit back and find out what’s going to happen to us,” he said.
Some may be concerned that local voices would be lost, Brough said.
“You’ve got to make sure you get the representation right around the district, that’s probably one of the biggest hurdles to the whole thing.
“The rest of it’s just meat and three vege stuff.”
Officials will evaluate councils’ ideas and Cabinet will make final decisions next year, with the reforms set to be in place before the 2028 local elections.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand