Amalgamation

I fully support, not only council amalgamation, but that the council becomes a unitary authority and that we should sever our relationship with the Greater Wellington Regional Council. 

We have no body representing the Wairarapa as a whole as the district councils are only bound to look after the interests of their own districts.  Yet, we have major issues that are Wairarapa wide including transport and water storage. 

Gaining consensus from the councils is like running a 3 legged race and it is not working in solving Wairarapa wide issues. It just takes too long and often results in failure.

I have personal experience of how frustrating it is to try and get unanimous support across all councils. Aa a spokesperson for the Remutaka Road Action Group, I have requested endorsement of our objectives from all 3 councils so as to promote a united front to NZTA and the government. That has taken significant effort and would have been much easier with a single Wairarapa council.

If we are to be taken seriously by the government, we must provide a united front - and that is very difficult and inefficient with the current structure.

The Wairarapa consists of approximately 50,000 residents of which 10,000 are in Carterton, 28,000 in Masterton and 12,000 in South Wairarapa. This puts a fairly large financial burden on each town’s ratepayers due to the lack of economy of scale. A single council would naturally reduce the rates burden on ratepayers by consolidating services. 

Those opposed are mostly concerned about the loss of representation of their own district and ensuring they do not become liable for another district's debts. That can be countered by ensuring we have councillors from wards representing each of the towns in the Wairarapa. Debts need to be ring fenced with a means of ensuring that they are absorbed into a new council equitably.