Governance shake up waits on regional council

Let's see what Greater Wellington has got to say.

That's the caution from the Local Government Commission on Wairarapa's application to form a unitary authority.

Yesterday the commission issued a statement saying it was satisfied there was "demonstrable community support" in the Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa districts for local government reorganisation. However, it wanted to defer the next stage until it could consider Greater Wellington's application, which proposes a blanket authority over the region, including Wairarapa.

The commission said the Greater Wellington Regional Council would be "materially affected" in its operations if Wairarapa went alone.

"Eighty-eight GWRC staff are based in Masterton, 21 per cent of council employees," the report says. "The area of land GWRC administers would reduce by 72 per cent, affecting environmental and flood management operations.

"The changes could affect GWRC's ability to attract and retain specialist staff, which would impact on the capacity of GWRC."

It is likely the public notification of the Wairarapa and Wellington applications will occur concurrently.

The next stage is an invitation for alternative applications.

The commission then picks its preferred option and calls for public submissions.

A final proposal would be subject to a poll if the commission received a petition of 10 per cent or more of electors in an affected district.

So far there are five unitary authorities in New Zealand: Auckland, Gisborne, Marlborough, Nelson and Tasman.