The Eastern Bay’s three district councils have reluctantly agreed to engage in a Head Start Pathway to explore amalgamation with other councils.

This decision has been made unanimously by all elected members, despite some councillors railing against the process as being “undemocratic”.

Ōpōtiki District councillor Barry Howe was the most candid in his objections, describing the options put before council as “blackmail”.

“It gets up my goat when decisions are being made by people other than our community,” he said as Ōpōtiki District Council debated the decision.

“We’re being blackmailed into making an amalgamation decision. If we don’t, [the Government] are just going to make the decision for us. There’s no democratic decision to be made here. We’ve got no option. We’ve been told,” he said.

Ōpōtiki District councillor Barry Howe.

Each council has emphasised that this does not mean that any decision has been made about amalgamation or supporting any particular local government structure; it is only to have a seat at the table while options are developed.

Any options would need to go back to each of the councils for further consideration.

The Government introduced the Head Start pathway in May, allowing councils to restructure themselves into unitary authorities, taking on the responsibilities of both regional and district councils. It is abolishing regional councils.

Outline proposals for one or more unitary authorities for Bay of Plenty and potentially including districts from other regions must be submitted by August 9.

The alternative would be to wait for a compulsory restructure at the end of this council term through a Backstop Pathway, details of which are yet to be determined.

Proposals need to come through two or more district or city councils. They must represent either the majority of councils affected by them or the majority of the population affected by them.

This means smaller councils could be swallowed up into a unitary council that they have not been involved in developing.

Kawerau District Council has had a particularly high level of feedback from its community, with 214 online submissions, 21 emails and 20 hard copy letters.

Of those, 80% wanted the council to oppose any reform but if the reform had to happen, the preferred option was for an Eastern Bay unitary council.

Because of this, the council asked staff to explore only the option to join with Whakatāne and Ōpōtiki to form an Eastern Bay Unitary Council.

Kawerau Mayor Faylene Tunui speaking at the Bay of Plenty mayoral forum in Rotorua. Photo / Mathew Nash

Kawerau Mayor Faylene Tunui said community concerns she had heard were about taking on other councils’ debts and under-investment in key infrastructure in other districts.

“But the big-ticket item I’ve heard is local representation ... We are used to having a council that has eyes and hearts only for Kawerau,” she said.

“What we have tried to be very clear and honest about is that that is not one of the options we are being given.”

Whakatāne Mayor Nándor Tánczos said it was important for Whakatāne District Council to explore options.

Whakatāne Mayor Nándor Tánczos. Photo / Local Democracy Reporting

“If we want to be in a position to be able to submit something, we have to start now,” Tánczos said.

“The big danger with relying on Backstop legislation is that we will end up being part of a Bay of Plenty Unitary Authority and any ability to shape our own destiny as a district will be gone.

He said the timeframe provided by central government had significantly increased the workloads for both the mayors and council staff.

“Government has said really clearly they do not intend to resource it at all.”

Tánczos said there was agreement among Bay of Plenty mayors that the preference was to see Head Start proposals put forward collectively, as a region, even if they may contain sub-regional elements to the proposal.

“I want to acknowledge the great relationships across the Bay of Plenty between mayors and deputy mayors and councillors. All of us are interested in what is the best outcome for our communities.”

Ōpōtiki District Council was the final council to agree to participate in the pathway just last week and work with neighbouring councils to investigate potential options.

Cabinet will make decisions on outline proposals put forward in September or October before the general election.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.