Christchurch won’t strong-arm neighbours into merger - mayor

Tuesday, 19 May 2026

Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger says his council won’t force its neighbours to merge with them - but the government might anyway.

Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger says his council won’t try to strong-arm its neighbours in Selwyn and Waimakariri into creating a super city.

“It’s up to them,” he says, later saying the prospect of being mayor of a much larger Greater Christchurch might make him “run a mile” rather than run for re-election.

As it stands, the Government wants amalgamation proposals by August 9 - about three months after it surprised local government leaders by fast-tracking local government reform - and is willing to accept proposals which impact other councils even if those other councils disagree.

The criteria allows for proposals which are population based, not just council-based, and Christchurch’s dominant population means the city council could go for a region-wide unitary council if it wanted to.

However, Mauger said the council would not submit a Greater Christchurch proposal which included Selwyn or Waimakariri without those councils’ agreement.

“They might say ‘no, not having a bar of that’. Dan [Waimakariri’s mayor] might decide to join up with some councils that way. Lydia [Selwyn’s mayor] might look to join to some councils that way. It’s still all up in the air,” he said.

“If we can’t get a friend, we might be sitting there by themselves and just be Christchurch as a unitary, by itself. Whether the Government is happy with that, I don’t know … but it’s up to the Government.”

Selwyn has a growing urban core in Rolleston, but its rural communities remain strong. (Composite image)

Mauger said he understood the Government would accept Canterbury split into about three unitary councils. It was “the bit in the middle” of the region, he said, which was tricky.

The mayors and chief executives from Selwyn, Waimakariri and Christchurch met last week to discuss the reform. While far from reaching an agreement, Mauger said any proposal would need to be backed by evidence.

He could not say specifically what type of evidence that would be.

The risk of not submitting a proposal was the Government could force the councils to merge regardless, and without any of the three councils having a say in what that would look like.

Mauger, quoting a recent conversation with Auckland mayor Wayne Brown, said “if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu”.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to give things a shake up, and we’ll see what falls out of the tree,” Mauger said.

“It’s interesting, it’s scary, and it’s exciting, all in the same ball of wax.”

He had not yet thought about how many councillors might sit around a Greater Christchurch council, but if Christchurch got to stay on its own and simply adopt Environment Canterbury functions, he would not advocate for more representatives.

“I’ve got enough trouble with the ones I’ve got,” he teased.

With the next local body elections two and a half years away, he was not ready to rule-in or rule-out a bid to remain mayor post-reform, but joked, “I might be scared and run a mile,” if the next election was for the mayor of Greater Christchurch.

“We’ll see what happens.”