Unacceptable, says Andrew Little, after Govt abandons ‘head start’ amalgamation

News from WCC
Wellington Mayor Andrew Little says today’s announcement by central government to defer amalgamation proposals until after the election shows they were not serious about the costly Head Start process.

Mayor Little, who is also co-chair of the Wellington and Wairarapa Mayoral Forum, says councils across the Wellington region put forward strong proposals that met the Government’s requirements and would have worked, while spending nearly $250,000 collectively to put forward a proposal before the recent deadline.

“Councils across the region invested significant time and ratepayer money because Ministers asked us to move quickly. We did exactly that. It is now clear the Government was not ready to follow through, and didn’t have enough support around the Cabinet table.

“There was considerable time and effort spent on chasing the Government’s amalgamation demands, that we could’ve spent delivering the services and facilities that our communities expect.

“Ministers made promises they couldn’t keep and have now abandoned the process. Wellington ratepayers are entitled to ask why they were asked to pay for an exercise the Government was not prepared to complete.

“At a time when councils are doing everything possible to keep costs under control, facing an arbitrary rates cap that will affect services and facilities that communities rely on, spending nearly a quarter of a million dollars on a process that goes nowhere is unacceptable.

“Councils across New Zealand were given a totally unreasonable three-month deadline to propose a model for local amalgamation, amid continually-shifting criteria by the Ministers. We met all of the government’s requirements to get a proposal in before the deadline.

“The only party that has not thought through their policy is central government themselves. It claims it is wanting to simplify local government, but today it has confirmed it has no plan for how to achieve this,” says Andrew Little.