Whanganui councillors consider becoming unitary authority

Whanganui councillor David Bennett put forward the possibility of Whanganui becoming a unitary authority. Photo file / Bevan Conley

Whanganui district councillor David Bennett has floated the possibility of the council becoming a unitary authority, taking on regional council responsibilities in place of Horizons Regional Council.

The district council's policy and governance manager Stephanie Macdonald-Rose produced a report on the possibility for the council's strategy and finance committee, mainly based on preliminary investigations done in 2009.

That report investigated Whanganui and Ruapehu each becoming separate unitary authorities — as Auckland, Tasman, Gisborne, Nelson City, Marlborough and the Chatham Islands are.

The report said at least an extra $2.5 million (in place of Whanganui people paying Horizons rates) would have to be gathered in rates if Whanganui were to take on those extra regional functions.

While Bennett wasn't at the meeting to discuss the report, councillor Alan Taylor and Whanganui Rural Community Board representative Grant Skilton both said rural people were discontented with "being lumped in with Manawatū" under Horizons Regional Council, and a district council could do the same tasks.

"From what I have heard in the wider rural community people aren't particularly satisfied with what has come out of Horizons," Taylor said.

But councillor Helen Craig said a lot of people could be unhappy with Whanganui District Council too.

She didn't see the point of spending "another bucket of money" looking into making such a fundamental shift.

Council chief executive Kym Fell asked what problem the council would be trying to fix.

"We work really well with Horizons. Could we do a better job with the waterways in this area?"

Moving to a unitary authority would be a major change and would take years

Committee chairwoman Kate Joblin wondered whether the same improvements could be achieved by working better with other bodies.

For councillor Rob Vinsen the extra cost made the unitary possibility not worth pursuing.

The matter was referred to the rural community board, to find out whether rural people have a major issue.