Waikato District mayoral candidate Aksel Bech has welcomed the Waikato Chamber of Commerce and Waikato Times for putting council amalgamation back into the spotlight ahead of the 2025 local elections.

“As the former Deputy Mayor of Waikato District Council, and now a mayoral candidate for Hamilton’s neighbouring district, I have already made this a key strategic initiative,” says Bech.

Bech believes it’s important to distinguish between two different types of amalgamation:

• Democratic amalgamation (such as creating a unitary authority, which would require legislative change), and
• Amalgamation or sharing of services, which councils can start implementing immediately.

“The recently formed Waters CCO is one example of a shared services approach, and Co-LAB (formerly known as Waikato Local Authority Shared Services) has been working in the background in this space also. But with rates affordability now the biggest issue for our communities, we must accelerate this work,” he says.

Bech argues that duplication across councils has become unaffordable:

“Can we really continue in this small geographic area of Future Proof with five CEOs, five CFOs, five comms teams, five rates team - five of everything? Our communities can no longer afford bespoke parochialism in the delivery of services.”

He says the political debate around full amalgamation has often stifled progress, with elected members reluctant to back changes that could reduce their own roles.

“Our communities deserve better leadership. They deserve a new flavour of leadership - one that will put rates affordability ahead of councillors protecting their own positions. Let democratic amalgamation come as the second stage, but let’s get on with shared services now.”

Bech says he is “strongly supportive of amalgamation of services at pace,” with amalgamation of democratic representation - including the government’s ongoing discussions about the future of regional councils - as a second stage.

“But we must not allow the latter to slow down the progress we can make today through sharing of services, which requires no legislative changes.”

“At the heart of my campaign is the belief that smarter, more efficient local government is the key to keeping rates affordable and ensuring our communities thrive - this is the kind of leadership Waikato deserves.”

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