Excellent local government reform

The Government has announced major local government reforms, with one major aspects that Regional Councillors will be replaced by local Mayors. One of the problems of Regional Councils is that when they do a crap job, there is no real way to sack them as there is no elected Mayor, and to sack a majority of the Council would take massive co-ordination over the region.

Key details proposed are:

• Elected Mayors in a Region will collectively form a Combined Territories Board (CTB), that will govern the Regional Council.
• CTBs will develop Regional Reorganisation Plans within two years to be submitted to the Minister
• Mayors’ votes will be roughly proportional to the population they represent
• However on issues of spatial plan chapters and/or natural environment plan chapters a vote will need both a weighted majority and a simple majority (ie large urban mayors can’t impose requirements on small rural areas)

Looks like a vast improvement to me.