Undemocratic or essential: The 20-year legacy of the Christchurch and Banks Peninsula merger

Saturday, 6 June 2026

Banks Peninsula mayor Bob Parker, left, and Christchurch mayor Garry Moore worked together in 2005 to amalgamate their councils.

As Canterbury councils face a massive shake-up, past lessons show that bridging the gap between urban budgets and rural voices is no easy task. WILL HARVIE reports.

A huge shake-up of local government has been ordered by Wellington. Councils have been given until August 9 to announce amalgamation plans with their neighbours or the Government will merge them itself.

How it will all shake-out in Canterbury is unclear, but the 2006 amalgamation of the Christchurch City Council and Banks Peninsula District Council may provide some insight into what worked well and what did not.

Claudia Reid represented the peninsula for years and says it did not have enough people or money.

First, a quick history of the merger. In the 1990s, many argued that the peninsula’s population (fewer than 8000) and size (1160km²) left its district council without enough resources.

“Bad decisions were being made on the basis that the peninsula didn’t have the funding to afford to do things well,” said Claudia Reid, an elected representative from the peninsula during 2004-2013. This point is still debated.

It took three referendums to make the merger happen. The first two, held concurrently, asked voters on the peninsula and Christchurch if they favoured a merger.

Moore, at a council meeting at Rapaki, announces his retirement from politics in 2006.

Banks Peninsula voters were narrowly split - 52% in favour and 48% against. Christchurch voters were strongly opposed - 37% in favour and 63% against.

That killed the momentum, but not issues. Three years later, about 1000 people convinced the Local Government Commission to call the third referendum, but this time Christchurch voters were not consulted. It was “undemocratic”, Reid said although she supported the outcome.

In any event, peninsula mayor Bob Parker and Christchurch mayor Garry Moore strongly advocated for the merger and 59% of peninsula voters were in favour. The district was dissolved into the city in March 2006.

So was it worth it? Did Banks Peninsula emerge with better governance and better services?

Moore said it was a success overall. “We were in a good state, and Banks Peninsula wasn't. It had an uneconomic number of ratepayers, a huge infrastructure bill in front of them, and they couldn't afford it.”

After the merger, the city council “nursed“ the peninsula along for a few years until its infrastructure needs, in particular, could be written into the long-term plan (budget), Moore said.

Suky Thompson, right, of Friends of Banks Peninsula, speaks about the Akaroa wastewater scheme at the Christchurch City Council.

Even then, the city council underestimated how much peninsula infrastructure cost - all those hills compared to mostly flat Christchurch. “I made a mistake, and I think the council did too, but we rectified it,“ he said.

He said an especially important part of the merger was giving the peninsula its own councillor and two community boards, even if the population did not warrant anything like that. One of the community boards was later disbanded.

“You need strong voices … when a community is small. They can feel left out unless they have strong voices and a commitment by the institution to hear their voices,” Moore said.

Anti-amalgamation campaigner Tony Utteridge, pictured in 2005 with one of the posters he put up around Banks Peninsula.

That did not happen, Friends of Banks Peninsula’s Suky Thompson said. Christchurch has been a “poor fit for our rural community”, she said.

The city council has an “urban mentality and lacks understanding of how to harness local knowledge and the willingness of rural communities to be involved in and actively contribute to local affairs”.

There has been “wasteful spending” on local reserves and also on larger projects, “which a smaller council would have found more economical ways to address”, she said.

Akaroa Mail editor Michael de Hamel thinks the 2006 merger was unnecessary.

Akaroa advocate Victoria Andrews said, “some individuals in the city do not understand that peninsula residents live very different lives. There are no shopping malls, limited entertainment venues and there is no public transport.”

Okains Bay still lacks safe drinking water after decades of administration by the Christchurch City Council, she said. A new $7.5 million water supply for Okains has been consented and will open in 2029.

Claudia Reid, the long-serving BP politician, watched as higher standard drinking water, reticulated water supplies and better waste water systems were installed in some communities and valleys.

Nuk Korako said the city council had access to resources the former district council did not have.

She saw residents get access to the full Christchurch library collection and the beginning of the protection of $21m Takapūneke Reserve, a place of outstanding historical and cultural heritage values.

“There was concern that the city wouldn't understand the peninsula, but I found the exact opposite,” she said.

“The staff at the council were really excited by … projects with and for the community over there. It was a whole new dimension of thinking that they could put their expertise to, and the peninsula benefited hugely from.”

The ongoing and convoluted fight over the $100m Akaroa waste water scheme still rankles some residents and the latest council move - applying for fast track consent and preventing further public consultation - offended them further.

Michael de Hamel, owner of the Akaroa Mail newspaper since 1985, said the 2006 merger was unnecessary because the peninsula was well run and the district council had more wealth than Bob Parker understood.

Christchurch actually got lots of “undervalued assets” from the amalgamation and “did bloody well out of it”, he said.

Former MP and ECan councillor Tutehounuku ‘Nuk’ Korako (Waitaha, Kati Mamoe, Rakiamoa Hawea, Ngāi Tahu) said iwi got on well with the city council due to strong relationships with the last four mayors.

They had things - resources, Māori advisory teams - that the Banks Peninsula District Council did not have, he said.

Asked what residents in Oxford, Springfield or Hororata should do about mergers, Victoria Andrews said they should “proceed with caution“. She feared rural communities will lose representation.

“Having your voice heard is extremely difficult at a distance due to lobbyists and the professional business community,” she said.

Asked the same question, Banks Peninsula advocate Suky Thompson said, “Avoid it. They'll just get steamrollered by the corporate, urban-oriented machine.”

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Garry Moore called the new amalgamation plan “the worst piece of local government reform I can recall”.

“The thing I learned during my time as mayor was that I stopped thinking in three year cycles and started thinking in 50 to 100 [cycles] and that's what we need to do now,” he said.