Robinson report: Supercity Trojan horse trots on

Like a political Trojan horse, the Waikato Mayoral Forum is being wheeled quietly and deliberately into the local government landscape, ultimately to disgorge a region-wide Waikato Supercity Council.

The self-appointed leaders group recently announced expensive work streams, not required by any legislation, that would serve as a firm foundation for eventual amalgamation of all Waikato councils (including Hamilton City and Waikato Regional) into a single authority.

With no formal standing under the Local Government Act, the forum brings together Waikato mayors, the regional council chair, and council chief executives in regular meetings. While councils are legally required to co-ordinate their activities each term, the Waikato Mayoral Forum is going far beyond that.

On the surface and according to public statements, the group is all about reducing costs and increasing efficiencies - not amalgamations. That's the political sales pitch.

But the forum is hip deep in an effort to assume responsibility for two overarching pillars of local government - spatial planning and economic development.

Leaders say the central feature of their work will be creation of a single Waikato Plan. Such a plan would trump any Hamilton City Council strategy and render other districts' blueprints irrelevant. From planning flows policy, and from policies flow rules and regulations.

The forum says it will "ensure local authorities in the Waikato share common goals and objectives when it comes to making policy choices, investment decisions and engagement with central Government". And that spells only one thing - Waikato Supercity.

If the public was perplexed when a media statement from the Waikato Mayoral Forum was dispatched from Waikato Regional Council's public relations department, they shouldn't feel too bad.

Normally, groups like the forum issue their own press releases. But the forum doesn't really exist in anything other than name - no office, no statutory structure, no public accountability, no officially-recorded agendas and minutes, no official information obligations.

It does, however, serve as a strategic tool for Supercity supporters when it comes to laying groundwork for inevitable local government reorganisation and amalgamation.

For proof of the Supercity agenda, look no further than the words and recent political moves of Matamata-Piako District Mayor (and forum chairman) Hugh Vercoe. While ex-insurance man Vercoe claims the forum is "not discussing" council amalgamations, he essentially confirmed as much when he recently advocated a "Waikato Inc" approach to local government.

Vercoe suggests leaders must be able to say, "We represent 400,000 people". According to the 2011 Statistics NZ estimate, the entire Waikato population is 416,200. The only way Vercoe can make his numbers work is by creating one Waikato Supercity council.

According to Vercoe, the regional forum he chairs "does not have any collective view" about "the future shape of local government".

But Hugh Vercoe sure does. To show where he thinks district-level councils will be in three years, Vercoe has announced his resignation as Matamata-Piako mayor, effective this October.

Vercoe isn't getting tired. He knows district councils are an endangered species and is smartly seeking a seat instead on Waikato Regional Council in the newly-redefined Waihou constituency (comprising Matamata-Piako, South Waikato, and parts of Hauraki) at the next election.

Vercoe doesn't want to be left planning Christmas decorations for Morrinsville, or setting dog registration fees for Te Aroha when the lights go on at flash new Waikato Supercity offices in Hamilton East in a few years.

And if elected, Vercoe is positioned well to take on the unremarkable Peter Buckley for the WRC chairmanship.

In addition to running the backroom monthly meetings of the forum, Vercoe chairs the Central North Island (Zone 2) branch of Local Government NZ.

In this job, he speaks for all Waikato and Bay of Plenty district and regional councils, as well as the unitary Gisborne District Council covering the East Coast. That's a fair political base from which to mount a challenge.

For its part, WRC continues to publicly deny any interest in amalgamations.

Meanwhile, over at the Waikato Mayoral Forum, under Hugh Vercoe's watchful eye, the region's leaders are working to put their own councils out of business for good - whether they realise it or not.

Geoffrey Robinson and Reihana Robinson comment regularly on local government, public policy, and environmental issues. Send your comments to robinsonsreport@gmail.com.