Amalgamation `a top table topic' says Pringle

A regional councillor has stoked the fire of a city and district council merger debate by saying Western Bay councillors should start the process.
Cr Jim Pringle said people in the Western Bay district's rural communities would fear their views would be ignored if there was an amalgamation and so their councillors should be responsible for initiating a merger.
In contrast, Cr Pringle, who was elected to Environment Bay of Plenty in 1998, said he believed people in Tauranga would not have as great an issue with a merger.
The Bay of Plenty Times reported on Saturday that two former Tauranga mayors, Noel Pope and Nobby Clarke, and former Te Puke mayor Michael Pittar, wanted Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty district councillors to start debating amalgamation.
Cr Pringle has backed their stance and said people in the Western Bay region had been asking him for some time why there is both a city and district council.
"People see it [an amalgamation] as being very worthwhile.
"The benefit for the man on the street is his rates. I would hope a merger would provide a slowdown on the increase," Cr Pringle said.
"But the main benefit would be on the service provided. We need to tackle duplications on staff time."
Cr Pringle said he believed a merger could happen within the next five years but would probably not be discussed prior to the local elections in October next year.
"Politics is a very laborious business and democracy is even worse. I would like to see Western Bay and Tauranga City Council amalgamate but it needs to be driven by Western Bay ... it needs to be on top of the table."
Western Bay councillor Sam Dunlop said he believed amalgamation would eventually happen but Cr Michael Jones said it was not an issue of high priority.
"There seems to be very little benefit in an amalgamation ... we already have a very good relationship with Tauranga City Council," Cr Jones added.
Western Bay councillor Norm Bruning has added to the debate by saying councillors should not initiate the merger process unless told to do so by either ratepayers or the Government.
He added: "I do not detect a direction from either at this time. We are getting on with our jobs and working closely with Tauranga City Council and Environment Bay of Plenty."