Despite the tragedy in Christchurch, local body politics in Wellington is marching on.
At tonight’s Strategy and Planning Committee meeting, policy guiding the Mayor’s response to the Mayoral Forum regarding the PriceWaterHouseCoopers report on local body amalgamation in Wellington is to be tabled.
The original motion is:
Officers recommend that the Committee:
1. Receive the information.
2. Note that the Mayor is due to discuss the PriceWaterHouseCoopers report and next steps in the review of governance in the Wellington region at the Mayoral Forum scheduled for Friday 4 March 2011.
3. Agree that the Mayor recommends to the Mayoral Forum that further work be done before proceeding to phase three of the governance review (development of options), focussing on those areas that present the best opportunities for improvement:
* the three waters
* regional amenities
* transport
* economic development
* back office services
There are two differing groups of amendments being planned to alter this motion. The first is to be tabled by Councillor Jo Coughlan and change point three to read “Agree that the Mayor recommends the Mayoral Forum proceed to phase three…”
The other amendment being planned comes from Labour Councillors Paul Eagle and Leonie Gill, and adds points four and five…
4. Agree that the Mayor recommends to the Mayoral Forum that the public need to be fully involved in the review of the region’s governance and that an additional public engagement phase take place immediately after stage 3, when the options (as identified above) have been developed further.
5. Agree that the Mayor recommends to the Mayoral Forum that any proposed amalgamation of Wellington City Council with any other local authority would have to involve genuine public consultation and receive majority public support through a local referendum.
There may well be fireworks and it will be interesting to see which way the council splits. Essentially, Jo Coughlan wants the mayoral forum to move forward with its amalgamation report as quickly as possible, while Eagle and Gill want to see more public involvement, and even a referendum (possibly with the next local body election?)
WCC Watch 