Kāpiti mayor says business as usual in spite of super city proposal

4 December, 2014

Kāpiti Mayor Ross Church says it will be business as usual for Kāpiti in spite of the big news delivered in Wellington this morning.

The Local Government Commission has released its draft proposal for regional reorganisation, opting for a super city based on one council for the whole region with eight local boards. The new Greater Wellington Council would merge the current councils in the region including the Wairarapa and have all of the responsibilities of the regional council and all of the city and district councils.

Decision-making would be shared between a governing body and the eight local boards.

“We have just received the news and will take time to digest the detail. There are two large documents which need to be analysed.

“From a Council perspective, we firmly believe that our people should dictate the future shape of our district and region.

“We have always been non-committal with regard to possible local government restructuring, as surveys have indicated our community has been split pretty much 50/50. And, in spite of today’s draft proposal, it will be ordinary people who have the final say. It is likely that the final proposal will trigger a poll that will determine whether or not this is the future shape of the region.

“In the meantime we can’t afford to sit still. We need to prepare for the future of Kāpiti so are progressing our main objectives such as the Proposed District Plan (PDP) and LTP (Long-Term Plan).

“Should a new authority be formed, the work we do on the PDP and LTP will be invaluable in informing the plans and policies the new authority will adopt.

“If a new authority is not formed, the work we do on the PDP and LTP will also be invaluable – it means we won’t have stood still for a number of years.

“Either way we will be prepared to progress the interests of our district,” says Mayor Church.

ENDS

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