Shaping your local government
Wellington City Council made decisions in December 2012 to ask you about what you want Wellington’s local government to look like in the future (see committee report below).
Report 9 - Strategy and Policy Committee meeting - 12.03.13
Regional Reform - Wellington: Your Choice
We asked to hear your views about this because these are important decisions, they are decisions that will impact how our city and our region looks in the future and what kind of society we have.
Why we asked about change
Our current local government structure was put in place in 1989. There are 8 city or district councils and a regional council across the region. In our current form, we have achieved some great things, we have a vibrant world-class capital city, excellent transport infrastructure, and we share our skills and expertise with each other to run a large proportion of the region’s water network and more.
Times are changing though and our region of around half a million people have different needs today. We are more mobile, we expect and deserve value for money services, and we are future focused.
The way local government is set up in the region reflects our various broader communities: Wellington, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua, Kapiti Coast and the Wairarapa. Our councils work hard for their areas and have achieved a lot over the last 20 or so years.
But, we could do better. We will work to improve the services we deliver, how much they cost and what our cities, communities and neighbourhoods look like.
Options
There may be other ways of organising local government in our region. We think there are three main options to think about: the current arrangements or status quo, and two other options contained in the Working Party’s report.
Joint Working Party Report - 8.03.13 - Regional Reform - Wellington: Your Choice
The Working Party arrived at two options. The four councils involved in that process brought their knowledge and skill together having looked at other options for the region too. Those options didn’t stack up when compared to the status quo.
There are benefits to the Working Party’s two options, and there are benefits in the status quo - so we wanted to know what you thought might be best for our region.
What we wanted to know
- Do you want to change how Wellington’s local government is set up?
- If the status quo were changed, what changes do you want?
Submissions
The deadline for submissions was 3 May 2013 and submissions have closed.
Survey
The Council also asked Wellington city residents about their preferences in a separate survey. We have publicly released these results, which you can view below:
Local Government Reform Survey: Colmar Brunton Report - May 2013 (869KB PDF)
News - Wellington Residents Support Big Single-Tier Council with Mayor and 29 Councillors - 20.05.13
What happens now
We'll provide a report to the Strategy and Policy Committee on 6 June 2013 with the results of the survey and consultation.
Meetings Calendar - Strategy and Policy Committee