Mayor to attend LGC hearing on behalf of Upper Hutt

Hearing date now confirmed for Mayor Wayne Guppy, to present Council’s submission to the Local Government Commission.

UPPER HUTT, Wellington NZ, 13 MAR 2015—Upper Hutt Mayor, Wayne Guppy, will be recapping Upper Hutt City Council’s key submission points against the proposal to amalgamate the Wellington region at the public hearing, scheduled in Upper Hutt for30 March. Council is one of many groups and individuals who have registered to speak at public hearings around the region, which concludes the submissions process in the Local Government Commission’s (LGC) process to reorganise the region.

Council’s submission opposes the draft proposal of the LGC, which seeks to reorganise the nine councils of the Wellington region into one ‘supercity’ council. Council’s submission challenges the idealist model proposed, which offers tokenism democracy and is based on significant factual errors around the funding and costs. Due to the lack of evidence supporting the LGCs claims to greater efficiencies; Upper Hutt questions if the proposal is just change for the sake of change, particularly when current regional collaborative actions are already proving to be highly effective. Upper Hutt’s submission also opposes the suggestion that our rate-payers should have to repay debt from across the region, when Upper Hutt has been prudent year after year.

“People want to make a decision based on facts, and that's hard to do when the goalposts keep shifting. The power of this important decision rests entirely with our residents, yet the LGC proposal provides no concrete information on what the proposal will mean for and cost everyday ratepayers.”

“Undermining our democratic principles through establishing a supercity is an issue that will affect more than just our community, here in Upper Hutt. If this supercity goes ahead nearly half of our country’s population will fall under only two councils. Local boards will offer little compensation for the loss of influence we will have in determining our own futures. Upper Hutt has already provided a viable alternative to amalgamation that would improve regional collaboration, without spending $210 million dollars of ratepayer money to do it,” says Mayor Guppy.

“I look forward to telling the Local Government Commission what Upper Hutt rate payers have made very clear to me—that they do not want to be amalgamated,” says Mayor Guppy.

Local Government Commission hearings will kick off at 9.00 am on 30 March at the Upper Hutt Cossie Club. Local residents are welcome to attend the hearings to observe the proceedings however; only those who have specifically requested to speak and have been contacted by the LGC are able to do so at these hearings.

ENDS

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