In early May, the Government announced the Headstart programme for Simplifying Local Government – a streamlined, voluntary pathway for councils willing to reorganise before the proposed wider reform of local government from 2028.
Little time was given for this, with outline proposals due by 9 August and detailed proposals early next year. Wider reform of local government will follow the 2028 local elections and the Government has been clear that councils that don’t decide an option now will be subject to decisions by Ministers at that time.
Currently there are three types of councils:
- Territorial Authorities (TAs) – responsible for local services, including local roads, building regulations, water/wastewater and community facilities (such as pools and libraries).
- Regional Councils – responsible for natural environment and regional delivery, including environmental regulation, land and water issues (such as river management, pest control, air quality, farm plans), regional transport planning/public transport, regional spatial planning, maritime regulation.
- Unitary councils – responsible for all the responsibilities of both TAs and regional councils.
At present there are only five Unitaries: Auckland (following a Royal Commission) and four smaller ones – Gisborne, Nelson, Marlborough and Tasman,
In Wairarapa we have three TAs (South Wairarapa, Carterton and Masterton) and the Greater Wellington Regional Council.
This is similar to most of New Zealand and it’s a model the Government considers complex, costly and sometimes unclear – underpinning the decision that all councils should be Unitary. These changes will be supported by the Government’s reform programme for resource management, planning and water services, already underway.
All councils are now looking at which of their neighbouring councils they should partner with to form a Unitary and how a combined model could improve efficiency, reduce duplication and deliver better value.
Practically there are two options for South Wairarapa – either a Wairarapa Unitary with the other two Wairarapa TAs (and potentially part or all of Tararua if they wished) or a Wellington Unitary with the other councils in the current Wellington region.
The two big issues for Wairarapa are preserving local voice/representation, and the cost of delivering services currently delivered and funded by Greater Wellington.
This is where the focus is and the Councils have commissioned external work to quantify the cost of a Wairarapa Unitary Council.
Any councils that don’t use the “Headstart” pathway and remain as TAs will be moved into what the Government calls the “Backstop” process, whereby the decision will be made by central government after the 2028 election.
For further information check the South Wairarapa District Council website https://swdc.govt.nz
