The government intention to amalgamate councils has had one level of success – there now seems almost universal agreement among councils that the government has botched an expensive process. Mayors from throughout the region have openly condemned the government after this week’s announcement that local government reform has been shelved until after the election.

Kāpiti Mayor Janet Holborow says Councils deserve better than election-year limbo. “Councils and communities engaged in the Head Start pathway in good faith and within tight time-frames. While we didn’t want to be part of the Wellington region’s proposal, the lack of certainty puts us in a difficult position. 

“We are now left in limbo at a time when we’re already grappling with the transition to the new planning and environmental management systems, a raft of legislative changes pushed through under urgency in recent weeks, and increasing community expectations to cut costs.  

“Deferring decisions on the cusp of a general election is irresponsible. Councils and communities that engaged in the Head Start pathway – at considerable cost – deserve better,” says Mayor Holborow.

Porirua Mayor Anita Baker has challenged the Government to continue with Wellington regional reform after it delayed decisions on council amalgamation proposals until next year.

“I’m fuming,” says Mayor Baker.

“For six years, we have been pushed to confront how local government should be organised across the Wellington region. This Government turned up the pressure, told us the status quo wasn’t good enough and gave us a very tight time-frame to develop alternatives. So we did.

“Our four councils put forward a credible proposal after hundreds of hours of work and significant cost to ratepayers. You cannot spend months telling councils to be brave and work together, then lose your nerve when they do exactly that.”

Mayor Baker says the councils had engaged in good faith with the Government and their communities while responding to pressure for major structural change.

“It is difficult to reconcile this loss of nerve with a Government that demands greater efficiency from councils, threatens rates caps and continues to impose additional costs on local government.

“At a time when households are under real cost-of-living pressure, ratepayers are entitled to ask what has been achieved by putting councils through an expensive, time-consuming process only to send us back to the starting line.”

Labour’s Kāpiti candidate Sophie Handford, whose electorate includes Whitby, Paremata, Plimmerton and Camborne in northern Porirua, and extends through to Ōtaki also criticised the delay and its cost to councils.

“Kāpiti Coast District Council and Porirua City Council were given just months to undertake significant work, commit staff time and spend ratepayer resources responding to a deadline imposed by the Government,” Handford says.

“Now, after councils have done the work National demanded of them, the Government has abandoned its own timetable and pushed the process beyond the election.”

Handford says for a Government that repeatedly talks about fiscal discipline, this is a real failure of planning and follow-through.

“People in Kāpiti and Porirua, the region and councils throughout the country deserve a Government that treats their councils’ time and ratepayer money with respect. Decisions about the future of local government should be handled carefully and transparently, not through a rushed process that is changed after councils have already done the work.”

The Government announced on Thursday that none of the 18 Head Start proposals submitted nationally would move into detailed design at this stage.

The Government had launched Head Start in May, giving councils three months to develop and submit proposals. In August, it said Cabinet would decide in September which proposals would progress to detailed design.

Local Government Minister Simon Watts says the overall quality of the proposals was high but more work was required before Cabinet could make final decisions.

“While the overall quality of proposals was high, none came with the unanimous view of the region, and some needed further analysis before they can progress. These are important gaps we must fill in prior to making final decisions.”

Mayor Baker also warned that any reform involving Greater Wellington Regional Council needed to clearly address what would happen to its responsibilities.

“I do not want Greater Wellington’s responsibilities simply dumped on Porirua and other city and district councils.”

“Councils have stepped up. Porirua has stepped up. We have done what was asked of us. The Government should not walk away now. It needs to decide what it believes in and have the courage to back it.”

Greater Wellington Regional Council chair Daran Ponter also criticised the delay, saying councils had responded to what he described as a rushed process.

“The Government forced a hastily scrambled Head Start process on the local government sector, excluding regional councils in the making. Even so, councils across the country got on with the job.”

Ponter says the failure to progress any proposals before the election was disappointing for councils and communities that had invested in the process.

“Despite this great work, no proposals progressed before the election beggar’s belief. Put simply, Head Start has failed to get out of the starting blocks,” says Ponter.

Wellington Mayor Andrew Little says Councils across the region invested significant time and ratepayer money because Ministers asked them to move quickly. “We did exactly that.”

Mayor Little says Wellington councils had worked to the timetable set by the Government.

“There was considerable time and effort spent on chasing the Government’s amalgamation demands, that we could’ve spent delivering the services and facilities that our communities expect.

“Ministers made promises they couldn’t keep and have now abandoned the process. Wellington ratepayers are entitled to ask why they were asked to pay for an exercise the Government was not prepared to complete.”

He says councils had been expected to develop major structural reforms within what he described as an unreasonable time-frame.

“Councils across New Zealand were given a totally unreasonable three-month deadline to propose a model for local amalgamation, amid continually-shifting criteria by the Ministers. We met all of the government’s requirements to get a proposal in before the deadline.”

The estimated costs to councils to complete the Head Start requirements from government are $11.1million.

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