Our voting papers this year will include a non-binding referendum on amalgamation.
The question you will be asked to vote on is:
“Should Porirua City Council work with councils in Wellington, the Hutt Valley, and the Wellington Regional Council to explore the possibility of creating one single council, that combines relevant services and functions regionally, while keeping appropriate local services and decision making local?”
Of course, the devil is in the detail.
The councils in our region have already agreed to establish a multi-council-owned water organisation to take ownership of public water services (the ‘three waters’) and take responsibility for the planning, maintenance and operations of these assets.
It’s really important that this new body is up and running quickly and improves the performance of Wellington Water.
It remains to be seen how council’s focus will shift without the big infrastructure decisions to make. This is an opportunity to explore with residents what’s important in their local communities and how council can best prepare our city for the future. It feels too soon to talking amalgamation to me.