Rejection of the super-city concept should not be seen as a "tick" for a Wairarapa unitary authority, Masterton district councillor Chris Peterson has warned.
Mr Peterson, who lent his support towards a "stronger, more connected" regional government along the lines of what has been dubbed a super-city, said with that out of the mix "anything else will be second best".
The regional model would have been good for Wairarapa's standing in places such as Auckland and Christchurch and would have helped "with selling our wares and advantages nationally and internationally".
He said the Wairarapa unitary authority proposal had not even managed to get over the first hurdle with the Local Government Commission and he would think that whatever options the commission might now look at, that application would be at the bottom of the heap.
On the other side of the coin, former Carterton mayor Ron Mark, who is now back in parliament as a New Zealand First list MP, could reflect on comments he made in January last year, long before the commission came out with the super-city recommendation.
