Wellington’s mayors have agreed to explore amalgamation – a decade after the last attempt collapsed, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin.

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A renewed push for reform

The mayors of the wider Wellington region have agreed to take the first formal step towards amalgamation, opening a process that could reshape local government from Wellington City to the Wairarapa. Announced on Thursday after a Wellington Mayoral Forum meeting last week, the plan involves the mayors seeking a mandate from their councils for exploring amalgamation and then setting up project teams to coordinate the work and consult with the public, the Herald’s Ethan Manera reports.

Many residents of greater Wellington believe the move is long overdue. The region has a population of 545,000, represented by eight mayors; the greater Christchurch metropolitan area, with a population of 556,500, has three. Wellington city’s deputy mayor, Ben McNulty, is a cheerleader for change. Posting on the /rWellington subreddit, he said the mayors intend to “leap-frog [central government] and take charge of the work ourselves to put forward the model we think works best for Wellington”. This is the first serious revival of amalgamation since 2015, when a super-city proposal fizzled amid public resistance. As South Wairarapa mayor Fran Wilde put it yesterday, “It’s an issue we haven’t looked at in a decade and now is the time.”

Why the conversation is back

The drivers behind the renewed interest are both fiscal and political. Spiralling infrastructure costs have increased the need for economies of scale, while government plans to abolish regional councils and cap rates have made councils more open to reorganisation than at any time in the past decade. Voters seem more interested, too. In 2015, Wilde noted that Hutt Valley residents made up 60% of the submissions against the idea, despite making up less than a third of the region’s population. This year, Lower Hutt residents signalled their support by 17,429 votes to 14,283. The non-binding referendum, held as part of the local body elections, was mirrored in Porirua, where 9581 supported amalgamation and 7399 said they were opposed.

Wairarapa goes its own way

Across the Remutaka Range, the picture in Wairarapa is increasingly clear: rather than joining a Wellington super city, the district’s three councils look more likely to pursue amalgamation among themselves. A joint statement released on Sunday by the mayors of Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa confirmed that preparatory work on a unitary-style Wairarapa authority could begin next year.

The mayors said recent government announcements affecting regional councils, alongside looming RMA reforms, had prompted a reassessment of Wairarapa’s governance future. According to Local Democracy reporter Sue Teodoro, the mayors’ plan to notify the government of their interest in amalgamating represents the most significant move towards such reform since earlier proposals faltered in 2013 and again in 2017.

A pivotal choice for Kāpiti

Further west, the signals are more mixed. Kāpiti Coast District has long oscillated between scepticism and cautious engagement, and mayor Janet Holborow remains one of the region’s strongest voices against joining a Wellington-led amalgamation. Asked about it by former councillor Gwynn Compton on his Local Aotearoa Substack, she argued that the 2015 failure demonstrated that while “people in power can propose amalgamation”, communities typically say no because they want to preserve their local voice, culture and autonomy. Kāpiti’s strong finances and independent water management, she said, show the district can stand on its own.

Yet others, including Compton himself, warn that Kāpiti cannot afford to ignore a process that could reshape the region’s future, with or without its involvement. He argues that the district’s economic and social ties to Wellington mean it should “at the very least understand what the possible benefits or trade offs could be before we say ‘thanks, but no thanks’”. The region now faces a strategic decision, he writes: stay outside and risk diminished influence, or participate early enough to help shape the outcome.