Council to investigate merger

A group of business people led by property developer Paul Adams intend to apply to amalgamate the Tauranga City Council and Western Bay District Council. Photo / File

Bay of Plenty Regional Council intends to take a lead role on the controversial issue of amalgamating the Bay's local authorities, with the possibility it might launch a "pre-emptive strike" with its own proposal.

It has been forced to set aside its neutral position after a group of Tauranga business people, led by property developer Paul Adams, announced they intended to apply to the Local Government Commission to amalgamate the Tauranga City Council and Western Bay District Council.

The regional council responded yesterday by deciding to take the initiative and start work immediately on preparing a report on local government reorganisation options for the Bay.

Council chief executive Mary-Anne Macleod said they needed to be ready in case an application was lodged. Otherwise, they would have only 20 working days to respond to the commission.

The council also flagged that it would "consider the circumstances" in which it might initiate a local government reorganisation proposal.

Cr Neil Oppatt supported acting quickly and not waiting until someone else put a proposal on the table.

However, he said they should also be talking to those promoting reorganisation proposals to explain how it could affect the rest of the Bay. He opposed a "pre-emptive strike" to the Local Government Commission without the support of the region's councils.

Cr David Love opposed making their position on amalgamation conditional on getting agreement from other councils. "I believe we need to give our chief executive maximum flexibility."

He said it was frightening that, once an application had been accepted for consideration by the commission, there were only 20 days to make submissions.

In a compromise to make the vote unanimous, the council agreed it would not do anything without first informing the Bay's other councils.

Cr Lyall Thurston said they needed to fast-track research that was independent, scientific and well researched.

Mr Adams responded that the council's response was predictable. He said they intended to lodge their reorganisation proposal with the commission before the general election in September. They were gathering all the information they needed to put the case, drawing on the skills of lawyers, accountants and people with an understanding of local government.

He said merging the two councils made compelling sense but it would not be a unitary authority which also took in the functions of the regional council.

Mr Adams will be promoting the merger as part of a speech today to a Tauranga Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

Bay of Plenty's councils

*Western Bay's councils: Tauranga City and Western Bay District councils
*Eastern Bay coastal councils: Whakatane District and Opotiki District councils
*Central inland councils: Rotorua District and Kawerau District councils
*Bay-wide council: Bay of Plenty Regional Council