What is a unitary authority?

  • A unitary authority is a single body that combines the functions of both a district council and a regional council inthe governingof one geographic area.

What have we done so far?

  • Council has carried out some preliminary investigations into the costs and benefits of establishing itself as a unitary authority.
  • These investigations were carried out in partnership with Ruapehu District Council. Although the report was a collaborative effort it didn’t look at amalgamating the two councils. Options were identified, some of which involved Ruapehu and Wanganui partnering through joint management and shared services agreements. This report is available on the Council website (

Why did the Council look into this?

  • Council believed there could be efficiency gains in having a ‘one-stop-shop’ (with one rates bill, one set of plans and one set of offices). Council also wants to make sure that decisions made for our district best reflect the needs of our district.

What did the preliminary research reveal?

  • Gains in efficiency, service delivery and community representation could exist.Research also identified that financial impacts, specialist services, boundary / catchment issues and the correct legal mechanism to effect change would need further clarification.
  • The decision to establish a unitary authority is a very important one with far reaching and long-term implications.

What do regional councils do?

  • Regional councils are concerned with the sustainable management of natural and physical resources.This means that they concentrate on things like flood control, land use, pest management, biosecurity and the coastal environment.

What does Horizons do?

  • Horizons is the consenting authority for the cleanliness of land, air and water in our region.It has 12 councillors, with two representing the Wanganui district.
  • Work in the Wanganui district includes riverbank enhancement, Whangaehu-Mangawhero flood prevention works and the Matarawa flood protection scheme.Horizons has specialist staff to undertake this work.
  • A unitary authority would combine our existing services and functions with the responsibility that Horizons has in our district. However, decisions would have to be made about what we want to take on, what we need to take on and what we could do without.

Does a unitary authority exist anywhere else?

  • Yes – Gisborne District, Marlborough District, Tasman District and NelsonCity all operate as unitary authorities. Chatham Islands Council is also technically a unitary authority as it is a district council with regional council functions but it doesn’t have as many responsibilities as the others.
  • Other councils are also looking into whether they should become unitary authorities, for example Ruapehu and the three councils in Northland (Far North, Whangarei and Kaipara).

What are the benefits?

  • Benefits could include localised responses to localised issues (without the need to subsidise work in other districts), efficiency gains, simplification of processes, removal of a layer of bureaucracy, elimination of ‘double-ups’ in regional and district council work, better coordination, more integrated environmental management and the ability to be proactive rather than reactive.People would be able to see where their rates were going and what they were getting for them.

What needs to be investigated?

  • How much it will cost our community and whether we could really do a better job.This will mean obtaining more detailed financial and staffing information from Horizons, working out what functions are essential for our district, deciding what level of service we would want to deliver, and calculating the likely transitional costs.
  • Although preliminary investigations indicated a funding shortfall these investigations also concluded that more work needed to be done and did not incorporate potential gains from the transfer of assets.

What are the next steps?

  • At this stage no decisions have been made. Council just wants to know whether the community is interested in a unitary authority proposal. If investigations are supported then Council would need to confirm what the next steps towards reorganisation would be. For example, how would we seek the transfer of pro rata assets and would a Parliamentary Bill be the best approach to take?

Question:

Should the Council investigate establishing a unitary authority that covers the Wanganui district and replaces the Horizons Regional Council?

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