Kaipara District Council has announced its decision not to support the Northland Elected Member Steering Group’s recommendation to develop a Head Start proposal.
The unanimous decision at today’s Extraordinary Meeting follows consideration of the Morrison Low Advisory Head Start options analysis, community feedback, and the recommendation from the Northland Local Government Reform Elected Member Steering Group (EMSG).
The staged transition model identified as the preferred option by the EMSG would establish two unitary authorities before ultimately transitioning to a single Northland-wide council.
Mayor, Jonathan Larsen said elected members supported continued discussion on local government reform and opportunities to improve service delivery across Northland.
“We support reducing duplication and improving regional coordination where it delivers better outcomes including financial benefits for communities,” he said.
“Working together to achieve collective benefits for Northland remains important, and we will continue to support collaborative approaches that improve outcomes for our Kaipara community. I believe this could be achieved with three unitary councils that share the delivery of regional services.
“We think Northland can work more closely together without losing local decision-making.”
Mayor Larsen said the council was not convinced that the proposed model would deliver better outcomes for Kaipara.
“Kaipara is a largely rural district. We do not have a city centre. We are also in a much better position than our neighbours in terms of debt per rateable property. There is not enough evidence of benefits, or what improvements there would be, if Kaipara was to merge with our neighbours that have very different characteristics,” he said.
“The analysis confirms that there are no economies of scale, and no specific other benefits of scale that could be identified for project delivery in Northland.”
Council noted community feedback through the survey supported exploring reform opportunities while emphasising local representation and clear benefits for residents and ratepayers.
“People have told us they’re willing to look at change, but they want to clearly understand the costs, benefits and impacts before decisions are made. And so do we as their representatives. Our elected members also do not agree with the concept of a voluntary proposal being submitted that is not unanimously supported by all affected district councils.”
Mayor Larsen said Council remains committed to working with neighbouring councils on issues of regional importance.
He said the Council will notify the other Northland councils of today’s decision and request that Kaipara is not included in any Head Start proposal.
View the council meeting discussion and decision on the Kaipara District Council YouTube channel.
