Dalton fires blast as debate reopens

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton.

The amalgamation debate will be reignited today as the Local Government Commission begins hearing submissions on its controversial proposal to merge Hawke's Bay's five local authorities into a single region-wide council.

But even before it arrived in town yesterday, the commission was given a blast by Napier's staunchly anti-amalgamation mayor, Bill Dalton.

Mr Dalton, who criticised the commission's consultation efforts last year, said it had failed to adequately publicise this week's hearings, taking place in Napier today and in Hastings on Thursday.

Napier City Council staff, including chief executive Wayne Jack, had had difficulty getting a schedule for the hearings because the commission had been reluctant to release it, Mr Dalton said.

"This is the most important thing that is facing Hawke's Bay at the moment and it should be as open as it is possible to be," Mr Dalton said.

"The better informed the public are, the better decision they will make. This is not pro- or anti-amalgamation, this is simply a case of if we have a better informed public, they will make a better decision."

A referendum on amalgamation is likely either late this year or early next year.

Mr Dalton said "at the very least" the commission should have advertised the schedule for the hearings in the public notices section of local newspapers.

"They have done nothing about advising the people of Hawke's Bay that these submissions are on. I think they have been derelict in their duty."

The commission's senior communications adviser, Kathryn Street, said the schedule for the hearings was widely distributed to media last week.

"By giving the media heaps of notice and lots of detail, that is being quite open."

She said the hearings were a chance for commissioners to make further inquiries of those people who had lodged written submissions on its proposal, rather than an opportunity for wider public input. "They are hearings for the 96 people who asked to speak. Members of the public are welcome to come and listen, but it is not a public meeting in terms of anyone from the floor being able to get up and speak."

Mr Dalton will face the commission this afternoon, making a personal submission, not one on behalf of the city council, during a hearing session.

Details for further hearing days, later this month and next month, were being finalised, Ms Street said.