Mayor looks to restart conversation about Wellington council amalgamation

Wednesday, 18 March 2020

Roads are set to re-open on Thursday after a tunnel collapse in Wellington CBD caused wastewater to spill into the harbour.

As Wellington councils face billion-dollar infrastructure bills, one mayor is backing amalgamation - she says her own city cannot afford to go it alone.

Porirua City Mayor Anita Baker wants to restart the conversation about amalgamation of the central four cities in the region.

'You look at the region and we have something like 329 plans over our nine councils, with nine CEOs and 500,000 people, nine councils, eight mayors, one regional council chair, 95 councillors, 57 community boards, and it goes on and on,' she said.

Baker said Porirua could not afford to grow because the city faces a $1.8b bill for upkeep of its water infrastructure in the next 20 years.

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Stuff has previously reported that Wellington City ratepayers could be asked to stump up nearly $2b extra to cover the costs of replacing outdated pipes.

But attempts to get amalgamation across the line have already failed: five years ago the local Government Commission dumped its proposal for a Wellington super-city, citing a lack of public support.

Porirua City Mayor Anita Baker says the city can't afford its infrastructure bills.

Its plan would have seen the region's nine councils merged into a single entity with a mayor and 21 councillors overseeing eight local boards.

Baker said the Hutts, Wellington and Porirua could look at combining, with a vote on whether it would go ahead at the next council elections.

Voters could then elect the first super council in the following election: This would see the super-city running in just under six years.

Water pipe repairs on Wellington's Willis Street.

She said the region's mayors met Government Ministers, including Grant Robertson and Phil Twyford, in early February, and were asked to 'think regionally'.

'They definitely said 'use Auckland as the example'. So they want us to start thinking like that. They didn't say 'we will force you', yet.'

Hutt City Mayor Campbell Barry said there was a lot of room for councils to co-operate around certain planning areas and services, with water being the main issue for the region.

He said the Ministers made it clear the region needed to be speaking with a single voice if it wanted support from the central government.

Wellington City Deputy Mayor Sarah Free says 'difficult conversations' are looming.

Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy said the meeting with the ministers was about regional co-operation rather than amalgamation.

Guppy said the region needed to be ready for an expected population increase of 150,000 in the next 25 to 30 years.

'When the region works together we all win. It's better than a lolly-scramble and everyone fighting for [funding].'

However both Hutt mayors said discussions around a super-city had been and gone. The people in the Hutt Valley had been some of the most vehemently opposed to a super-city and neither mayor could see attitudes changing.

Wellington City Deputy Mayor Sarah Free said the city faced 'difficult conversations' about its infrastructure bills. This might include water, earthquake strengthening, or transport improvements.

Free wasn't at the Government meeting but said when Ministers spoke about wanting councils to think regionally, 'it doesn't necessarily mean amalgamation'.

'It may be they are asking us to think about joined-up water services, joined-up emergency management services, it might be even a more coherent transport package throughout the region.'

Kāpiti Coast Mayor K Gurunathan says the district is doing just fine.

Local Government minister Nanaia Mahuta did not respond to requests for comment but her press secretary said Rimutaka MP Chris Hipkins had been briefed.

Hipkins, who was at the meeting, said the government was keen to have local authorities working together on large projects.

He felt any discussion around amalgamation would distract from issues facing the region like housing, water and transport.

Schemes like Let's Get Wellington Moving showed the government was willing to partner with the regions to get big projects up and running.

COUNT US OUT

Kāpiti's mayor K Gurunathan said while his fellow mayors to the south were screaming about the lack of investment in their infrastructure, Kāpiti was fine.

The council had invested $90m in infrastructure in the past 10 years, introduced water meters and was catching up on depreciation.

'We are a newer district in terms of development so our infrastructure is actually quite new, unlike Wellington which is more like 120 years old.'