Regional Council notes

Thirteen years ago when I was the newly elected mayor of South Wairarapa I was strongly opposed to changes in the structure of local government in any shape or form. It was assumed that any amalgamation of councils would see control shifted to Masterton and local decision making would be lost.
Also, if I’m totally honest, as a newly elected mayor I wasn’t too keen on seeing my recently acquired position disestablished, especially when support for amalgamation was virtually non-existent in the south at the time.
During the four terms I served as Mayor I was actively involved in the many, many hours of work, across the three Wairarapa councils, which went into investigating what local government should look like over here. During this time the waters were muddied by the Wellington Super City debate and while I was totally opposed to Wairarapa being an annex of Wellington, I fully now support the concept of a Combined Wairarapa Council.
So what’s changed you might ask? It’s simple really. Twelve years of being inside the tent has shown me the shortcomings of all three councils and their lack of critical mass. It’s highlighted the fact that all three use the same legislation and a Combined District Plan yet come out with different interpretations almost on a daily basis.

A person who lives in Greytown, works in Masterton and plays sport in Carterton could in theory deal with three different councils in one day, making different decisions around the same set of rules. We have three mayors, three CEOs and three bureaucracies to look after what is essentially one district. Given that so much business is done these days using technology, this just doesn’t make sense. The makeup of our communities has also changed and we are nowhere near as insular as we used to be.
There are many more reasons that have swayed my thinking on this which space doesn’t allow me to address here. I’m happy to discuss these over a cuppa even with those of you who are throwing up your hands in horror at my suggestions.
The sum of the parts of Wairarapa has far more impact than any individual town alone. Whether or not you agree though, it’s vital that we all make the effort to vote in the referendum in November which will decide on the future of local government in Wairarapa. When you vote, please think about what the people of tomorrow might need, not what suited us yesterday.
Adrienne Staples