Wellington mayoral candidates are open to amalgamation, after businesses recommended it in a punchy pre-election report exclusively revealed by the Herald.
The issue of amalgamation has recently started bubbling away again in Wellington after the idea was axed in 2015.
The Wellington Chamber of Commerce report recommended Wellington, Porirua, and Hutt Councils should transition to become one over time, which it said was a conversation already happening "behind the scenes".
Chief executive Simon Arcus told the Herald the Auckland Council experiment was now seen as largely successful.
He said businesses considered amalgamation as a solution to some of the more wicked problems like transport, housing, and sustainability.
"The boundaries of Wellington City alone seem very artificial to try and solve those problems. You've got to have a bigger, regional solution to some of the big issues that the city is facing."
Wellington mayoral candidate Tory Whanau, who is running as an independent candidate endorsed by the Greens, said she personally supported amalgamation.
"I know that people in Wellington have voted against it in recent times and I want to respect that, however I would be willing to look at in the future."
Whanau said the current housing crisis made the conversation relevant and all levers needed to be considered.
She supported a staged approach like amalgamating the Hutt councils first and Porirua with Wellington.
"When you're making a big transition with significant decisions like this, a staged approach helps to bring other people on board."
Incumbent mayor Andy Foster. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Incumbent Andy Foster said he didn't personally want to spend a lot of time on amalgamation and believed "form should follow function".
He said the Government was in the middle of significant changes including Three Waters reforms, resource management changes, and the review into the future of local government.
"Once that work's done and decided on, then you could look at what is the right structure to deliver whatever the future functions of local government would be."
Foster said he was open to amalgamation depending on those decisions.
Paul Eagle, who is running as an independent candidate endorsed by Labour, stressed Wellingtonians were most concerned about getting back to basics and he thought they would be upset if amalgamation was prioritised.
But he was "certainly up for having the conversation".
It should be something on the agenda for newly elected mayors to discuss and residents then having a say would be a bottom line, he said.
Anything that materialised from that should not be a long-winded process, Eagle said.
"I think we need to be bold this time. If we are serious about doing this, we do it as a unified region and we go to Government and say we're ready."
The pre-election report also said the regional and city councils should relinquish their transport responsibilities to create a new entity like Auckland Transport.
It recommended this entity should focus on reliability so people know they will get to work on time if they catch the bus.
"Let's Get Wellington Moving, a source of enduring concern for business, is only one part of a tangled dysfunctional strategy that will benefit from the accountability of a single body," the report said.
Businesses painted a grim picture of the current state of affairs and said the city's leadership has been inward-looking and complacent for too long.
"The hard choices to enhance our city's reputation have not been made. Business feels that the city has failed to invest in its future.
"Wellington businesses feel overshadowed by Central Government and that the city is now synonymous with bureaucracy and politics, rather than business and innovation, forgetting the very essence of the heart of the city."
