Super City-lite back on the cards for Wellington

Monday, 1 July 2024

Three out of four Wellington region mayors are apparently keen to amalgamate. Wellington City appears to be less keen.

Dual water and rates crises have forced talks of a Wellington super city back to the fore, with three of the region’s city leaders keen to push the idea further.

Previous plans for one council to rule them all across Wairarapa and Wellington were ditched. However, a smaller one – amalgamating Wellington City, Porirua, Hutt City and Upper Hutt – was floated at a May 10 meeting of mayors and council chief executives and is soon up for discussion again, sources have confirmed.

“If we all four don’t agree it is dead in the water,” Porirua Mayor Anita Baker says.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau appears to be the only one not keen to amalgamate.

Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said it was time the four mayors looked seriously at amalgamation. Her council as well as Upper Hutt and Hutt City were open to further discussion, she confirmed.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau said there wasn’t strong appetite for amalgamation.

“But if we all four don’t agree it is dead in the water. You can’t have one bail out.”

Whanau, in a statement, said that while eventual amalgamation “probably” made sense “there isn’t a strong appetite for this at the moment” and residents were not asking for it.

Hutt City Mayor Campbell Barry, could not be reached for comment on Sunday, but has previously said amalgamation was inevitable and councils in the region needed to face that reality.

Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy said the water crisis as well as current and future rates hikes around the region meant the region’s mayors were looking at how they could fund the necessary work for the coming decades. The current system of councils relying mostly on rates was not sustainable, he said.

Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy said the water crisis and rates hikes showed things had to change.

“It is the right thing to have that discussion,” he said.

Wellington’s water crisis brought about after decades of under-investment in pipes meant there was a good chance of water outages over summer, while a significant amount of the region’s water was lost to leaks.

Meanwhile, Wellington City has just voted in an effective 18.5% rates increase. Upper Hutt has approved a 19.9% increase, Lower Hutt voted for 16.9%, and Porirua approved 17.5%. For each, the coming year will not be the end of large increases.

One of the idea’s loudest supporters is Ōhāriu MP Greg O’Connor, who said it was “absolutely essential“ Wellington amalgamated or the region would run the risk of being little more than the seat of government.

He said people who disagreed should visit Auckland and see the huge changes, from Britomart to a new rail link to downtown, to see what could be done with the chequebook of a big city rather than disparate parts.

He witnessed Auckland becoming a super city when he headed the police union and said the entire functioning of the city improved as a result.

Remutaka MP and former prime minister Chris Hipkins said any amalgamation needed to be led by local government but he was aware of growing support from local government leaders for a change. “I’m open to exploring that with them,” he said.

Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter, like Whanau, said there was “not a lot of appetite for a super city right now” and decisions were best left for local communities.

“Local government should be given the tools and resources [from central government] needed to plan for the future before being forced into having to consider amalgamation.”

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown was asked to comment on the possible amalgamation. He said there was a formal process, via the Local Government Commission, that needed to be gone through to amalgamate.

Local MPs Chris Bishop, in Hutt South, and Tamatha Paul, in Wellington Central, did not respond.