An appetite for amalgamation - Have we been here before?

Wednesday, 6 November 2024

Will there ever be an overwhelming appetite for the amalgamation of the region’s nine district councils? History would tell us no, but have attitudes changed?

Is it time to amalgamate the region’s councils? In a short series, the Waikato Times talks to mayors, MPs and experts about what it could look like.

There’s a saying that goes something like this - the more things change, the more they stay the same - and when it comes to amalgamating the region’s district councils, nothing could be truer.

Talk of amalgamating the Waikato region’s multiple local bodies goes as far back as 1989, when around 850 around the country were amalgamated into 86 local authorities.

Some would argue the Labour government’s 1989 local government reforms as the most significant in more than a century, even more revolutionary than the Local Government Act 1974 which started off the unification of county and borough councils, harbour boards, catchment boards, and drainage boards.

In February 2010, the Waikato Times ran a campaign to find what what residents thought of a Waikato-wide ‘Super City’. However, the idea did not go down well with locals.

With rates and debt in some districts spiralling out of control, infrastructure crumbling beneath our feet, reports of dysfunctional councils rising, inflation and government mandates forcing councils to go back to basics, is it time to continue the conversation?

The government is also looking at bringing in regional building consent authorities, which to some extent would centralise the consenting process and take it out of the hands of councils and, with the debate over water supplies and infrastructure also heating up, councils could soon lose more of their traditional roles.

In July 1997, the Waikato Times ran articles on suggestions the region could be better served by a simpler system of three 'super' councils - amalgamating nine smaller district councils, the Hamilton City Council and the regional council.

Back in 1997 the idea of amalgamating the nine smaller district councils in the Waikato region, including Matamata-Piako in Te Aroha, was also rejected.

The region's mayors were divided on the issue with the then-mayors of Hamilton, Waipā, Waikato (district), Thames-Coromandel and Ōtorohanga saying amalgamation would be beneficial.

The mayors of South Waikato, and Matamata-Piako were not convinced, and former Environment Waikato chairman Neil Clarke said calls for reorganisation were premature.

Those arguing for amalgamation said larger organisations would benefit from cost savings on staff, services and infrastructure, and would carry more clout with central government.

In late 2018, then Waikato Chamber of Commerce chief executive Chris Simpson told the region's political leaders that amalgamation was inevitable.

Those against said the voices of people living in smaller towns such as Ōtorohanga, Te Kūiti, and Paeroa could be overlooked by their larger regional cousins, and create large, unwieldy councils that lacked cohesion.

Then, in 2001, the Waitomo District Council voted to merge with neighbouring Ōtorohanga in a bid to stop the region being carved up between Ōtorohanga, Ruapehu and New Plymouth.

A unified King Country District, where Waitomo and Ōtorohanga would be amalgamated, was also suggested but the entire plan was canned when it was voted down by locals during a Local Government Commission ordered referendum in 2004.

Fast-forward to 2010 when four Waikato district councils and Hamilton City Council talked up the possibility of joining forces to address significant population growth.

Former Hamilton City mayor Margaret Evans led a pro-super region group which supported amalgamating all of the region’s councils, including Environment Waikato (Waikato Regional Council).

This move also fizzled out in June of 2014, after councils spent millions investigating and reporting on the pros and cons.

Four years on, in late 2018, Waikato Chamber of Commerce chief executive Chris Simpson told the region's political leaders that amalgamation was inevitable and councils needed to get used to the idea now, or be “steam-rolled by future change”.

Simpson compared the region to Auckland’s Super City and said the Waikato had 136 elected councillors, representing 537,000 people, and Auckland had 20 councillors representing a population of 1.7m.

When asked about Simpson's proposal, Waipa District mayor Jim Mylchreest said 'bollocks'.

Waikato District Council mayor Allan Sanson said local body reform would need to happen in the next two to three decades and would need to be region-wide.

See The Waikato Times tomorrow when we look at what amalgamation could look like for two districts already considering it.