Media Release
24 April 2013

HBRC To Offer Alternative Local Government Organisation Proposal
 
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has voted to lodge an alternative proposal for local government reorganisation in Hawke’s Bay.
 
The Local Government Commission is currently assessing a proposal for reorganisation of local government in Hawke’s Bay that would see all five councils amalgamated into one and is seeking applications for alternative proposals.
 
At today’s meeting Council voted to lodge an alternative proposal that would see an East Coast Regional Council formed, with boundaries from Cape Palliser to north of Wairoa. Council will also inform the Local Government Commission that it has no view on the organisation of territorial local authorities in Hawke’s Bay.
 
The area encompasses the land currently managed by the Hawke’s Bay and the eastern sections of Greater Wellington and Horizons regional councils. This also covers the Rohe of Ngati Kahungunu and reflects their public position on appropriate boundaries for an East Coast regional council. 

Chairman Fenton Wilson says many of the challenges Hawke’s Bay faces are similar right down to Wairapapa.
 
He says the proposal also reflects the close working relationships that already exist between Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Council and the Department of Conservation through the Nature Central initiative, which aims to improve the management of natural resources in the lower North Island.

Council will consider the final proposal at a meeting on 1 May 2013, before it is lodged with the Local Government Commission prior to the deadline of 3 May 2013.
 
ENDS

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