13 June 2014
Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick has fired a shot across the bow of her Bay of Plenty counterparts. The shot came in the form of a press released from the Rotorua District Council under the heading “Regional amalgamation: at what cost for Rotorua?
The release said Steve Chadwick’s comments follow a recent decision by Bay of Plenty Regional Council to prepare a report with their views on local government reorganisation for the Bay of Plenty region.
“The regional council, which had previously committed to a neutral stance on amalgamation in the region, is now taking what they have called a ‘pre-emptive strike’ [The Mud emphasis] as a response to a group business people who have signalled their probable intention to lodge an application with the Local Government Commission for amalgamating Tauranga City Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council.
“It is expected that the Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s report will likely propose a single super city unitary authority for the whole of the Bay of Plenty, including Rotorua,” the release says.
(The BOP Regional Council announced this week that judges had decided against handing out a $20,000 prize for a winner of a Rotorua Land Innovation Challenge. Entrants were admonished for not having sufficient detailed analysis to support the feasibility of their plans.)
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Read Mayor Steve Chadwick's full press release on the amalgamation proposals.