Leaked poll shows cautious backing for Wellington super-council
Saturday, 9 May 2026
A leaked poll suggests Wellingtonians are cautiously open to council amalgamation, as the Government pushes councils to submit merger plans within three months or have reform imposed.
The survey found 43.2% supported merging Wellington, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Porirua into a single council, with 34.3% opposed and 22.5% unsure.
The results emerged days after ministers issued councils an ultimatum. The proposed “Head Start” policy gives councils until August 9 to work with neighbouring authorities to produce proposals for unitary authorities.
Six months after signalling the abolition of regional councils, local government minister Simon Watts and RMA reform minister Chris Bishop say they now want regions to design their own replacements, including options for combining territorial authorities.
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Porirua and Hutt City ran referenda at last year’s local elections and the results gave mayors Anita Baker and Ken Laban a clear mandate to open discussions with neighbouring councils. Wellington mayor Andrew Little also campaigned on mergers.
In December, the Wellington Mayoral Forum formally agreed to work together on exploring amalgamation options.
But while support holds a narrow lead, significant portions of the electorate are still to be convinced.
The strongest division is along gender lines. A majority of men support amalgamation at 56%, while only 31% of women are in favour, with opposition higher among female respondents.
Support also increases with age, rising from 40% among those aged 18–39 to 47% among those aged 60 and over.
Little, a former minister and leader of the Labour party, has strong personal support among voters, with a net approval rating of +57.4% for his performance.
The survey found 72.5% of respondents rated his performance as either “good” (44.3%) or “very good” (28.2%).
His strongest support comes from women and older voters. Among women, his net approval sits at +68%, while respondents aged 60 and over record +66% positive sentiment.
The survey polled 1949 residents across the Wellington Bays, Wellington North and southern Kenepuru electorates.
It was conducted by Community Engagement Limited’s owner Eric Goddard, who has previously been linked to Labour. The firm has previously been used by the party’s candidates.
The survey was conducted as part of an omnibus poll between April 23 and May 3, 2026. Goddard said the poll was undertaken for multiple clients and that different participants would not necessarily have received the same full set of questions.
He declined to disclose individual commissioning clients, but said the results were timely given renewed debate over council amalgamation.
Asked whether strong approval ratings were linked to his handling of recent flooding and the Moa Point sewage disaster, Little said they likely reflected a broad mix of factors.
“There’s the flooding, there’s also getting the triennial plan … so people have a sense that we have a plan,” he said.
The three-year plan, which includes widening the ratepayer pool to include the Crown properties and a shake-up of how rates are calculated, was released in March.
A remediation plan for Moa Point will be announced next week, setting out the scope of works and a timeline for repairs.
Little said residents were responding to a combination of high-profile events and longer-term council direction, as well as seeing more of their elected members.
“I think I work pretty hard to get my visibility up and get out and about,” he said. “People enjoy seeing me around the town, at events and things. So it’s a combination of things.”
The narrow support for a merger broadly reflected what he was hearing in the community, he said.
“Particularly in Wellington City itself, we haven’t really debated this issue for 10 years or more,” he said. “I just don’t think there’s been a lot of public thinking about the pros and cons and what it might mean and what it might look like,” he said.
“It is critical to get a good public debate …The three-month deadline is going to create a difficulty, it’s hard to see that happening properly in that time.”