RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop described the changes as "the most significant changes to local government since 1989".
The Government is proposing abolishing local councillors and nudging New Zealand’s 67 territorial authorities to eventually amalgamate into Auckland-style unitary authorities.
The current crop of regional councillors, only elected in October, might not serve their full three-year term before abolition.
Resource Management Act Reform Minister Chris Bishop described the changes as “the most significant changes to local government since 1989”. The reforms are designed to fit into Bishop’s Resource Management Act reforms, which will be announced in a few weeks.
The Government is putting forward two proposals. The first is to abolish elected regional councillors and replace them with Combined Territories Boards or CTBs.
These boards would fulfil all the functions of the former councillors. The board would be made up of the mayors of the councils that currently sit underneath a regional council.
Under this proposal, the regional council as an organisation would remain, but the mayors of the councils that sit underneath it would run it.
Bishop said the proposal would “streamline regional decision-making across planning, infrastructure and regulation, reduce duplication and strengthen accountability”.
The second proposal is to get the new CTBs to investigate a more lasting solution.
Each CTB would be asked to prepare a regional reorganisation plan within two years of being established.
“These plans would assess how councils across a region can best work together to deliver efficient and effective local infrastructure, public services and regulatory functions,” Minister for Local Government Simon Watts said.
He said options for the new entities could include “shared services, council-owned companies, reallocating functions or merging territorial authorities to form new unitary councils”.
Those plans would be “tested against clear criteria”, which will include housing, infrastructure and “financially responsible arrangements that keep rates manageable, and deliver better services”.
When asked whether mayors on CTBs could choose to keep the existing regional council model, Bishop said these criteria would make it “highly unlikely” that keeping the status quo would meet those criteria.
The Local Government Minister would have the final say over whether to approve these plans. They would not go to a local referendum.
Asked whether the reforms would work best if the country ends up with CTBs deciding to form larger unitary authorities, Bishop said “I think that is a fair summation of the situation”.
Bishop, an MP for Hutt South in the Wellington region, which has long been suggested as a candidate for amalgamation, said that speaking as a local MP, “I thought it was interesting that Porirua and Hutt City put referenda to a vote on that issue in the last local body elections a few months ago and they both passed”.
“Feedback I get from Wellington councils and mayors and, frankly, Wellington ratepayers is having Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua and Wellington City [councils] is pretty nuts,” he said.
“If this proposal goes ahead, Wellington will get the chance to do what they have not done for some time and seize the opportunity for growth,” Bishop said.
There had been some media speculation on Tuesday morning that the Government was set to abolish regional councils.
That turned out to not be quite correct, with only the councillors being abolished, while the council entities would remain – in fact, the regional councils may be the last councils standing.
The Herald reported in July that the Government was not so much looking at getting rid of regional councils as it was looking at amalgamating the smaller territorial authorities that sit under them into larger regional entities.
If this were to transpire, the 11 regional councils would become the blueprint for larger territorial authorities.
The changes are only a proposal at this stage, with the public having until February 20 next year to respond to them.
Legislation would then be drafted and introduced to Parliament. Bishop said a full select committee process would be needed, meaning it is very unlikely the changes would pass through all stages before the election, giving Labour the chance to undo them, should it form a Government after the 2026 election.
The CTBs would be comprised of a region’s mayors and would replace regional councillors.
The challenge for the CTBs is balancing the need to have each mayor’s voice on the CTB proportional to the size of their council, without creating a situation where smaller councils would be overwhelmed by larger ones.
A policy document said that when making decisions, each mayor would have a set number of votes based on the population of their council and adjusted to ensure smaller communities receive effective representation.
The Local Government Commission would make those adjustments. The CTBs must continue to comply with current rules about consultation.
The Government is considering other options, including ones which would give the Beehive a seat at every table.
These proposals would put a Crown observer on every board, although they would have no vote, or a Crown commissioner, who has a power of veto over the CTB, or a commissioner that has a majority of the votes on the board, giving them an effective veto, but allowing other mayors to vote.
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) said that members of the group passed a remit at the most recent AGM “calling for change to the current functions and governance arrangements of local government”.
LGNZ interim chief executive Scott Necklen said that it was important such a large change had “strong buy-in”.
“It must be workable – and ratepayers must get bang for buck from any new local government system," Necklen said.
“Regional councils carry out critical work. We know the new resource management system aims to accelerate growth; we believe the functions of regional councils are critical to the success of these reforms,” he said.
Labour local government spokesman Tangi Utikere pointed out the irony that a government that campaigned on local decision making was not giving communities a strong say.
“Christopher Luxon talked a lot about empowering local communities, yet these changes strip away a key layer of local decision-making,” Utikere said.
“Labour supports simplifying local government, but not at the cost of losing the voice of local communities. Replacing regional councils with Ministers or appointed commissioners shifts power further away from communities, not closer.
“National is also removing the option of polls or referenda to decide on local changes.
“The Government has already limited community input through the fast-track law. Taking away another avenue for local say will only reduce oversight and weaken accountability,” he said.
The Greens local government spokeswoman Celia Wade-Brown also agreed with the need for reform but said it should be “careful and considered”.
“Luxon’s version of reform here creates more uncertainty, risks downgrading environmental protection and erodes the agency of local community,” she said.
“This is really about reducing rates at any cost, and for this anti-environment Government the first port of call is to slash environmental management functions within local government,” she said.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said she too agreed with cutting bureaucracy but she said regional councils did important things like upholding Treaty Settlements and manage biodiversity.
“Compliance and monitoring have been done at regional level,” she said.
She said the changes were “a direct hit on Treaty, democracy, and environmental protection”.
“What we need to be really mindful of is that iwi and hapu are not sidelined while the minister tries to streamline bureaucracy,” she said.