Merger plan rejig to make it ‘palatable’

A REVISED proposal for council amalgamation in Hawke’s Bay has been written off by Napier Mayor Bill Dalton as ‘‘window dressing’’.

The Local Government Commission, which had been expected to issue its final proposal for the new shape of the region’s local government, instead yesterday released a ‘‘position paper’’.

The paper includes a revision of the commission’s draft proposal, which has been the subject of public consultation since its release in November last year.

The commission said less than one per cent of the region’s population had submitted on the draft, and in order to better gauge public opinion it was employing independent survey company Colmar Brunton to survey 2000 people in the region early next year.

It would also distribute mation to each household.

The commission is still proposing a unitary authority, ‘‘Hawke’s Bay Council’’, to replace the territorial authorities in Napier, Hastings, Wairoa and Central Hawke’s Bay as well as the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.

But it now said any new council should consist of 18 councillors rather than the original nine proposed.

Under the revised proposal, Na-

infor- pier and Hastings would have six councillors each, while Wairoa, Central Hawke’s Bay and a new electorate named Ngaruroro would have two each.

The revised proposal sees the commission recommending the establishment of local boards instead of community boards, as originally proposed.

Dalton dismissed the position statement as window dressing, which he said ‘‘simply restates the commission’s intention to plough ahead with amalgamation’’.

‘‘The number of elected and paid representatives has simply sky-rocketed. The whole idea of this being thrust on us was that it would cut down the number of paid representatives,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s just an attempt to make the old proposal more palatable.’’

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule was pleased with the revised proposal, but said there was no need for further consultation. ‘‘I think the people of Hawke’s Bay really just want the information and to be able to get on with this.’’