Wellington local government
February 1st, 2012 at 12:00 pm by David FarrarThe Nelson Mail reports:
The Local Government Commission has approved the draft reorganisation scheme for Nelson and Tasman, paving the way for the two local authorities to merge by the end of the year.
The new council, to be called Nelson Tasman District Council, would have a mayor and 16 members. All staff of both councils, apart from the chief executives, would transfer to the new council, to be headquartered in Richmond.
It’s good to see local authorities in Nelson and Tasman being pro-active about how to improve local government in their area. I wish our politicians in Wellington would do the same.
The Dom Post reports from earlier this week:
Wellington’s smaller cities could “wither away and die” if councils in the region are not restructured.
The warning comes from a group who have launched a website encouraging debate on local government amalgamation in the Wellington region.
The Shape the Future website was launched in response to a lack of action by politicians.
The aim of the campaign was to encourage ratepayers to voice their views on the future of local government in the region.
The website’s founding sponsors are Bob Francis, the former mayor of Masterton and current chairman of the Wairarapa District Health Board, Porirua city councillor Ken Douglas, Wellington accountant John Shewan, community sector representative and Owhiro Bay resident Vivien Maidaborn and Paraparaumu company director Norrey Simmons.
Mr Douglas, who has been a councillor in Porirua since 1998, said the current debate on whether councils in the region should be consumed by a super-city had missed the point.
Instead, discussion should be about purpose not structure.
“I’m supporting this approach about the need for rationalisation because if we don’t then places like Porirua will essentially just wither away and die.”
I’m with Ken Douglas on this issue. In fact I’ve gone to the Shape The Future website and signed up as a supporter. I note other supporters include the Mayor of Porirua Nick Leggett, former Labour Minister Steve Maharey, NZer of the Year Sir Paul Callaghan so it is a diverse group of supporters politically. I encourage readers who support change, signing up as supporters and engaging on what that change should be.
Ken Douglas is right to say we should focus on purpose or functions, not structure. The structure should follow.
My thinking is:
- We should define what functions are best provided regionally – water, tourism, transport etc are obvious inclusions but there are more. Let’s debate them.
- Then we should state that all other functions should be decided or provided at a local level (not necessairly the same boundaries as current) – community facilities
- After we have worked out functions, then you look at structure issues such as whether the regional body and the local bodies should be seperate entities as at present, or part of one overall Council (as in Auckland). I think people would be keen to get details about how much money is spent on our nine current Councils communicating and liasing with each other, plus enforcing rules and even prosecuting each other.
- Then we would also look at where boundaries should be at the local level. If for example we decided that we should have one entity with a regional council and several community councils, then you might have three community councils covering the area of the current Wellington City. One for the CBD and neighbouring suburbs. One for the South-Eastern suburbs and one for the North-Western suburbs.
Many of the Mayors and current Councillors (not all) see any change as a threat to their tenure. That is why we should not leave the debate to them. That’s why I’m supporting the debate.
Related posts:
- Dom Post calls for Local Government amalgamation in Wellington
- Wellington Region Local Government Review Panel meetings
- A super Council for Wellington?
- A Lord Mayor for Wellington?
February 1st, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Yeah and the Commission has also recommended a Maori Board for the new authority.
No wonder these things get support from certain quarters, it’s another way of foisting “Treaty” on unsuspecting electorates.
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 12:57 pm
If we get a free Tawa out of this, I’m in favour of re-organising responsibilities between local and regional government.
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 1:07 pm
“It’s good to see local authorities in Nelson and Tasman being pro-active about how to improve local government in their area. I wish our politicians in Wellington would do the same.”
While this process was initiated by the Mayor of Nelson (when he was a councillor,) the Tasman District Council has opposed it every step of the way (including a ratepayer funded leaflet campaign putting forward their side of the story). There is also a lack of support for the proposal amongst Tasman residents, many of whom feel that they would be under-represented by the new model.
Based on what I have heard from Tasman, I very much doubt that the merger will go ahead.
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 1:23 pm
“Ken Douglas is right to say we should focus on purpose or functions, not structure. The structure should follow.”
Right on. The structure is the means to the end — not the end itself.
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 1:24 pm
I think the people of the Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa might have something to say about more power going to Wellington.
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 1:49 pm
Perhaps we should just go just go back to the original six Provinces, each of which had a superintendent (like a governor), and a locally-elected council.
I can see there appears to be another push on to move our ‘local’ government further and further away from ‘local’. That happened in 1989.
Where I once lived I went to see the mayor. I found him on his back, under a car, working on its gearbox. He was a mechanic, and his employer was one of his councillors.
Doubt if you would see the like now.
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Shouldn’t we wait to see how things go in Auckland before replicating the experiment?
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 2:15 pm
The average commune is Switzerland has 2000 people.
In France there is a mayor for every 350 people.
One could go on but one general rule of thumb is that no councillor or Mayor should have to drive more than 45 minutes for a Council meeting.
Vote:There are no economies of scale in politics and the recent mega mergers have been failures.
Why are we so convinced that bigger is better.
February 1st, 2012 at 4:40 pm
How does anyone know at this stage that it will be an improvement? Amalgamation in CHCh is a disaster.
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 6:00 pm
Auckland was fast becoming an amalgamated city with the boundaries not obvious as suburbs joined up. It was literally becoming each side of the street paying different rates, for different services, at different quality. The cities also did not want to cooperate and the whole thing was a mess. Everyone agreed it wasn’t working, just no-one could agree on what to do about it! Hence the Royal Commission which recommended a Super City.
In Wellington, the different cities are quite distinct – both geographically and (to a degree) politically. The region works well together and do share resources where it makes sense. Capacity is a good example of this.
To some degree, the most “dysfunctional” parts of the region are the 3 Wairarapa councils not having an economy of scale and the Regional Council being pushed by all parts of the region to transfer money to projects in their area.
To my mind, the best reform would be to abolish the regional council and move the functions back to the City Councils. A regional public transport entity would need to be formed to replace the regional council functions, but drainage and harbour issues, natural resource policy, and the other functions of the Regional Council can be managed by the council.
The cities would need to co-operate to deal with cross boundary issues – especially the two Hutt councils – but Wellington voters would severely punish politicians who didn’t want to work together.
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 6:27 pm
Michael (6pm) – bang on. The only thing I’d recommend in addition is that the two Hutt councils should merge. That’s the only merger in the Wellington region, except for the three Wairarapa coucils, that makes any sense.
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 7:36 pm
The point is that there needs to be a review of what services are best delivered at a regional/multi-TLA level. It doesn’t need to be a full merger, but there is a lot of opportunity to avoid duplication and improve co-ordination. But it definitely should not be assumed that a Wellington supercity is the best way forward.
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 8:59 pm
Fire the lot of them in Upper Hutt. Utterly useless.
Vote:February 1st, 2012 at 10:42 pm
Freedom101 and infused get your stinking hands off Upper Hutt’s independance. I’ve lived in three Wellington city cities. LH, WGTN and Upper Hutt and UH are the only council that stick the to the bread and butter. I want nothing to do with the disfunctional retard councils dominated by left wing retards with other people’s money fascination and their crazy big spending plans.
Vote:Also Lower Hutt is munted with it’s alienation of the Eastbourne residents, Wellington is hijacked by the Green/Labour faction out numbering the sensible centre. I don’t know enough about Porirua or Kapiti to make informed comment about those councils, but here in Upper Hutt, the public on a whole are happier with our council. I’ve dealt with them a few times over the last 10 years and I’ve been mostly happy with them. If Upper Hutt took over the running of the other three cities it might make sense to me, but it ain’t going to happen in a democracy.
February 2nd, 2012 at 5:54 am
Having Helene Ritchie and Bryan Pepperill have any influence beyond the current Wellington Borders is a scary prospect however conceptually the merger is sensible
Vote:February 2nd, 2012 at 9:05 am
What Brian Marshall said….
Vote:For Upper Hutt residents an amalgamation would be a backwards step, not a forward step, we have a nice responsible council, that doesn’t waste money on stuff we don’t need, and doesn’t leave us with ripped up streets for months on end.