The Town Planning Act 1926 required councils to prepare town plans but few, including Hastings, ever did.
Dannevirke was the first in New Zealand to do a town plan (in 1936), 10 years after the act was passed. By the early 1950s only 37 schemes had been completed – and not yet Hastings.
In 1936, Hastings Borough Council invited the government town planning officer, RB Hammond, to discuss the layout of the newly created Civic Square and the future planning of the town.
Hammond warned if we “continue to develop haphazardly as we are doing at present, then confusion, inconvenience and a waste of public money are bound to continue and increase”. What is needed, he said, was “a preconceived and well thought out plan, which will be for the whole community as a whole”.
Finally, in 1947, Hastings Borough Council developed a town plan, and Hawke’s Bay County Council also prepared an “extra-urban scheme” (which is the planning of rural land). The county council was assisted by DG Porter, a town planner from Wellington. (Porter was also instrumental in the planning of Havelock North and Porter Drive is named for him.)
The 1953 Act had attempted to get more regional co-operation for planning but had failed to improve the situation.
In an attempt to force regional co-operation, the Labour Government in 1974 passed the Local Government Act. This aimed to abolish the distinction between boroughs, towns and counties and instead place them under a system of regional, community and united councils, to be in place by 1979.
The new National Government amended the Local Government Act in 1977, giving Wellington and Auckland separately elected regional authorities, and the rest of the country was divided into 21 united councils – set up from the existing elected councils. A Hawke’s Bay united council of 15 members: nine rural and six urban, was proposed by the Local Government Commission, and Napier would be the administering centre.
Hastings mayor JJ O’Connor had wanted a regional planning authority and two autonomous district councils “on the plains with some standing”, whereas Napier wanted just one – and based in that city.
A “war of words” followed; with the Hastings mayor calling for full public support for “The Battle of Hastings 1977″.
O’Connor had objected to the united council on the basis that it enraged “every instinct for democracy”.
“We could lose control of vital functions and amenities which have been approved by the people of Hastings,” he warned.
While he agreed with the benefits “that flow from the combining of fragmented regional functions under the rationalisation of a regional umbrella”, he opposed “taxation without representation” from appointed, rather than elected members.
Not unsurprisingly, in view of its history, Hawke’s Bay was the last to set up a united council, and by 1983 had made no progress – and the Local Government Commission had to step in to keep things rolling along.
Napier and Hastings could not easily agree on matters such as what areas should be included in the region but also over the constitution; the rules governing the new united council.
The new 18-member Hawke’s Bay United Council was formed in late 1983 and met for the first time in February 1984. Hastings mayor O’Connor chaired the Napier-based meeting, which was attended by representatives from Hawke’s Bay County Council, Hastings City Council, Napier City Council, Wairoa County Council, Wairoa District Council, Havelock North Borough Council, Waipawa and Waipukurau District Councils.
Many criticised the united councils as unnecessary or as “a third tier of government”, below central and local government.
When a snap election occurred in 1984 (before MMP), the Labour Party swept to power and once again looked at reforming local government, and early “softly, softly” attempts to do this would be unsuccessful.
A meeting held in May 1985 by 120 local authority members agreed there was no need to look at reform here yet, and time was needed to give the Hawke’s Bay United Council a chance to work.
However, later Hawke’s Bay local government reforms by consensus were never going to succeed when the councils – just like many times in the past – were never going to agree.
In the end, on November 1, under the Local Government 1989 Amendment Act, the Labour Government disbanded the Hawke’s Bay United Council and created the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.
Wairoa District Council (replacing Wairoa Borough and County Councils), Central Hawke’s Bay District Council (Waipawa and Waipukurau District Councils), Hastings District Council (Hastings City Council, Havelock North Borough Council and the bulk of Hawke’s Bay County Council). Napier City Council was the least affected.
During 2025, in potentially the biggest local government reform since 1989, councils are considering implementation of the Coalition Government’s “Local Water Done Well”. This may see many local authorities separate their water activities into regional entities as one of the options to deliver water services.
