‘Major shake up’: Regional councils believed to be on the chopping block

Tuesday, 25 November 2025

Regional councillors are expecting a major announcement from the Government, whose ministers have made no secret of their desire to cull the local government system.

Stuff understands the Government will soon announce a major overhaul of the local government system, with the goal of getting rid of regional councils.

Across the country, a complicated system is in place to manage local government duties. There are unitary councils, city and district councils, regional councils, and also Auckland super council.

Some areas, such as Marlborough, don’t have regional councils - they have one single unitary council that does all local government work. Other areas have smaller city and district councils managing things like parks and rubbish, as well as a regional council that manages things such as public transport and the environment.

The regional councils were ECan in Canterbury, Horizons in Manawatū, and the Greater Wellington Regional Council, alongside the Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Northland, Otago, West Coast and Southland regional councils.

The Government is expected to announce policy to change the role of regional councils, with the aim of winding down that form of local government - and giving the power to smaller district councils.

Stuff has spoken to a number of council sources who say they are expecting Local Government Minister Simon Watts to confirm policy to wind down the role of regional councils.

Senior coalition ministers have been signalling big changes for regional councils.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said there was about to be a “serious shake up” of local government.

He explained, “As I’ve said before, we’ve got way too many layers of government in New Zealand. It just leads to endless bureaucracy, lots of red tape, and it’s not getting things done.”

Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has also been a vocal critic of the local government system.

“What is the point of regional government,” he asked local government figures during an event hosted by The Post.

“After the upcoming changes to the RMA, I doubt, well, certainly in the party I belong to, that there's going to be a compelling case for regional government to continue to exist,” he said, in July.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer defended regional councils. She described any attempt to scale back regional councils as a “power grab”.

“This is not just tinkering with local government, this could rewrite who has power over our water, our whenua, our climate resilience, and our future.

“If these reforms go ahead, councils may lose their authority at the exact moment ministers acquire unprecedented fast-track powers,” she said.

Watts declined to comment for this story.