Whatever happens to local government in this province, Hawke's Bay residents will only have themselves to blame if they don't vote in the likely amalgamation referendum later this year.
The Local Government Commission put us all out of our misery yesterday by releasing a "final proposal" in favour of establishing a single Hawke's Bay Council. Anti-amalgamation groups now have 60 working days to get 10 per cent of registered voters in one of the region's existing territorial local authority areas to sign a petition demanding a poll in order for the referendum to take place.
It is fair to say that the referendum will go ahead because there are almost certainly enough people in certain areas who are opposed to amalgamation. A referendum is a good thing because the decision-making will move from the politicians to the voters.
Those opposed to amalgamation are not happy, but it is now up to them to convince people to firstly sign a petition and then vote in a referendum.
It is disappointing that the commission decided not to, at this stage, release the results of a 2000-household telephone survey it hired a polling company to conduct in March. The commission said it did not want the results having an impact on the community's decision on the final proposal.
