Petition spurs push for September merger poll

HBT130149-02.JPG Rebecca Turner, chair, A Better Hawke's Bay, first speaker for the affirmative - Bubbles and Bites, The Amalgamation Debate - Is a unitary authority for Hawke's Bay the best thing for

Rebecca Turner, of A Better Hawke's Bay, said a poll date just needed to be set.

Hawke's Bay is heading for a September referendum on amalgamation after the lobby group pushing for change wasted no time yesterday filing a petition to trigger the vote.

The Local Government Commission yesterday formally issued notification of its proposal to merge Hawke's Bay's five councils, meaning the process of gathering signatures to demand a region-wide poll on the issue could begin.

Pro-amalgamation group A Better Hawke's Bay (ABHB) jumped at the opportunity to get the job done as quickly as possible by targeting a small section of the Rangitikei District on the isolated rural western boundary of Hawke's Bay.

The group's Alistair Mason "rang ahead" before making the drive west to the district to sign residents up to its petition. He returned with "less than 10" signatures but was confident he had more than enough to meet the commission's requirements.

"It was a beautiful drive and now I've got a very dirty car," Mr Mason said.

For the poll to occur, 10 per cent of those on the electoral role in any one of the council areas affected by the amalgamation proposal must sign a petition demanding it.

Because the proposal involves a slight shift in Hawke's Bay's western boundary, the "affected areas" include a pocket of the Rangitikei districts where only about 20 voters live.

So Mr Mason's single-figure collection of signatures is probably many times over the required threshold.

The petition was lodged with the Local Government Commission yesterday. A spokesman for the commission said it had been sent to Rangitikei District electoral officer Warwick Lampp, who had the job of verifying the signatures.

If the petition is verified - a process that should only take "a matter of days" - the commission will then set a poll date. It will be in about three months' time, to allow for preparation of the electoral roll, delivery of voting documents to electors and a three-week voting period for postal vote - meaning a likely date in September.

ABHB chairwoman Rebecca Turner said it had targeted Rangitikei because the tiny population involved meant an efficient and simple process to trigger the poll which "saved time and money for us all rather than trying for a petition in larger urban regions".

"The people of Hawke's Bay have been calling for a poll on this issue for a long time. We now have the petition and we just need the Local Government Commission to set a poll date," she said.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton welcomed the news, saying it allowed the region to move forward with the referendum as quickly as possible.

Mr Dalton said anti-amalgamation group Democratic Action Association had approached ABHB suggesting the two groups approached Rangitikei voters together. "ABHB obviously decided they'd do it directly and good on them."

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule also welcomed the move.

"Now we can move on. I'm very pleased," he said.

"People don't have to stand on street corners for weeks trying to get signatures for a petition - it's done, that's good."