Mayors dismiss survey

Wairarapa mayors say the survey conducted by the Local Government Reform Working Party which found 87 per cent of Wairarapa respondents wanted to be included in a council for the Wellington region has no credibility.

Almost 2000 submissions were made from across the region, with 41 per cent from Wellington City, 21 per cent from Wairarapa, 13 per cent from Lower Hutt, 9 per cent from Porirua, 7 per cent from Kapiti Coast and 5 per cent from Upper Hutt.

The remainder either did not answer the question or lived outside the region.

Of these 1230 were long form submissions but only 203 of these were from Wairarapa residents and of the 203, 87 per cent were in favour of Wairarapa's inclusion in a council for the region.

The rest were short submissionson the question is Wairarapa part of the Wellington region and general comments.

More than 50 per cent said no to Wairarapa being part of the Wellington region.

Just over 100 Wairarapa residents made a short form submission and 84 made a general comment.

The three Wairarapa mayors disagree and say there is strong community demand for Wairarapa to be left out of any regional super city scheme.

South Wairarapa mayor Adrienne Staples said the sample size of the Working Party survey is "considerably smaller" than that of other survey work, public consultation and polls.

"All the survey work done, the public consultation we went out to and the polls that were done, all returned similar percentages of over 70 per cent of Wairarapa people wanting Wairarapa to be stand alone and it was a much larger sample than what is being quoted with the Greater Wellington survey.

"I do not believe that that accurately represents the feeling of the people in the Wairarapa," Mrs Staples said.

Masterton mayor Garry Daniell said the survey had no credibility, was "very badly slanted" and was "out of tune with the rest of the population".

Carterton mayor Ron Mark agreed and said the survey size was "outside of the parameters of what would be considered a scientific survey".

Wairarapa mayors have made an application to form a new separate unitary authority which has been filed with the Local Government Commission (LGC).

Under the proposal, the Carterton, Masterton and South Wairarapa district councils merge into a Wairarapa unitary authority, which will undertake the functions performed by the Greater Wellington Regional Council.

The new authority will comprise of a Wairarapa mayor and 12 councillors elected on a ward-basis, with an expanded community board structure to facilitate local participation in the decision making.

Carterton, Masterton and South Wairarapa district councils voted 24 to 4 to approve the reorganisation application for submission to the LGC.

Having received the application the LGC is now required, by law, to assess how it will meet the needs of the Wairarapa community and to gauge the level of public support for the proposed change.