Most oppose Bay amalgamation: Survey

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said he questioned the accuracy of the HAA survey.

A survey commissioned by an anti-amalgamation group has found 63 per cent of the region opposes Hawke's Bay's councils being amalgamated - although a slight majority in Hastings favours the idea.

The online poll of just under 1000 people was commissioned by Hastings Against Amalgamation and drew responses from across the Bay's four territorial local authority areas roughly in proportion to their relative populations.

Participants were asked: "Would you vote for or against a proposal for a Hawke's Bay Council to cover Napier City, Wairoa, Hastings, and Central Hawke's Bay, which would take over the responsibilities of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council, and have five local boards and a Maori board, with headquarters in Napier?"

Of those polled, 78 per cent in Napier, 90 per cent in Wairoa and 76 per cent in Central Hawke's Bay were opposed to the idea. It was supported by 55 per cent of those polled in Hastings.

Hastings Against Amalgamation spokesman Mike Butler said the overall 63 per cent opposition showed that the Local Government Commission's amalgamation proposal would be voted down if it was put to a region-wide referendum. The commission is carrying out its own survey of 2000 people in Hawke's Bay ahead of deciding whether it has the "demonstrable support" it needs to issue a "final proposal" for amalgamation.

If it does issue a final proposal, a binding referendum on the issue can be forced if more than 10 per cent of voters in any of the affected council areas demand one.

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said he questioned the accuracy of the HAA survey because its division of respondents across the four council areas did not quite accurately reflect the population spread and online polls tended to deliver a "more polarised result" than other surveys.

"More people tend to respond negatively to email and internet based polling systems," he said.

"There is a result there, but based on that I would say it is a more negative result than you would have got on a telephone poll."

Pro-amalgamation group A better Hawke's Bay said the survey "appears to be more of a media stunt than a true portrayal of public sentiment".

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said the survey showed there was clear opposition to amalgamation in three of the four affected council areas, with only slight support in Hastings.

"The local Government Commission must have a look at this and say clearly it's not something that the people of Hawke's Bay want. They should simply withdraw their proposal, stop tearing the region apart, and let us get on and do the positive things that Hawke's Bay requires."

The commission declined to comment on the findings of the HAA survey yesterday.