A super-capital

The Dom Post reports:

Ratepayers in the Wellington region will be asked whether there should be a single council after Auckland was transformed into a super-city of 1.4 million people.

Wellington mayors say it is now inevitable that local government in the region will have to change, but are promising to consult widely before deciding whether to take the same route as Auckland.

I am very much in favour of Wellington going down a similar path. Five Councils on this side of the Rimutakas, three on the other side plus a Regional Council is far too much.

Like Auckland we have failed to make progress on issues like Transmission Gully because the nine Mayors could never agree.

I also think it would be great to get a range of local boards, smaller than the current Councils. An inner city local board that would include the CBD, Thorndon and Mt Victoria would, for example, be much more in tune with our issues.

Fears have been raised that the Wellington region which has a combined population of about 450,000 spread across eight local authorities and other centres will be swamped by Auckland and left behind.

Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast said governance changes in the Wellington region were now inevitable, though they would develop more slowly than in Auckland.

“We would rather have the consultation with our community and then take a proposal to the prime minister and say, `This is what our community wants, would you enact legislation and make it happen?”‘

Any changes could take effect at the 2013 local body elections, she said.

It will probably be an issue for Mayoral candidates at the next election. Could be worth setting up a ticket across the region of people who will push for amalgamation.