Ashburton District councillors have held off refining a list of preferred local government merger options for the district, until after a meeting of Canterbury’s mayors tomorrow.

Councillors yesterday considered eight potential options for amalgamating with councils to the north and south, but parked a final decision on favoured scenarios.

The scenarios were: 1 Ashburton District Council as a Unitary. 2 Catchment Rakitata (Rangitata) south to Rakaia north. 3 Catchment Rakitata (Rangitata) south to rural Selwyn. 4 Ashburton District Council and Selwyn District Council. 5 Ashburton District Council with South Canterbury. 6 Ashburton District Council with South Canterbury + Waitaki District. 7 Provincial Mid-North Canterbury. 8 Provincial Canterbury.

They will discuss the options again next Wednesday.

Mayor Liz McMillan said councillors talked through the eight options put forward in a report, with five potentially tagged for further investigation and analysis.

“We haven’t narrowed down the list at this point though because we want to hear how other councils are working through reform options, and how we can have a Canterbury-wide approach.

“We’ll be sharing as much information as we can with our community in the weeks ahead, though some of reform detail is still not known, like if councils will be responsible for environmental monitoring and enforcement.”

A 92-page assessment was part of the report to councillors yesterday, with each of the eight scenarios analysed using demographic, economic, council and other information.

Mayor Liz said councillors had many questions, including how to protect community assets in any future merger.

“We’re also concerned about ensuring the Ashburton District is well represented on any future governing authority, and that our unique identity is not lost.

“I’ll be reporting back to councillors following the Canterbury Mayoral Forum on Friday, and we’ll resume our Simplifying Local Government discussion again next week.”

Merger talks: Christchurch mayor told to ‘put big pants on’

By Jonathan Leask, local democracy reporter

An Ashburton councillor says Christchurch City Mayor Phil Mauger should “put his big pants on” and show his cards for amalgamation plans.

Ashburton councillors reduced eight amalgamation options down to five – none of which include Christchurch City, at a District Council meeting on Wednesday.

During the meeting, councillor Tony Todd suggested Christchurch City Council needed to step up and lead.

Christchurch City Mayor Phil Mauger should “put his big pants on and say we want to go to a super city”, Todd said.

“That would solve some of the issues if we knew what they were doing.”

A greater Christchurch council including Rolleston, Lincoln, and Prebbleton is logical because the towns would be “close to one city anyway” in a few years, Todd said.

Mauger was unavailable for comment as he is in China on his Sister City visit, a spokesperson said.

Councils have less than two months to put forward proposals for amalgamations – or face a potential Government-imposed arrangement.

Canterbury, with 11 councils spread across the region, is yet to reach an agreement.

The Canterbury Mayoral Forum, made up of the region’s mayors and Environment Canterbury’s chair, meets again on Friday.

Ashburton Mayor Liz McMillan said Ashburton has been discussing options with other councils, but no one is “showing their cards” which made it difficult for decision making.

Ashburton was not 100 per cent on it’s options, she said.

“And the clock is ticking”.

Almost all of Ashburton’s scenarios suggested its move would be alongside the creation of a Greater Christchurch Council, except for an Ashburton-Selwyn merger, which received only two votes of support for further analysis.

The option of amalgamation with the three South Canterbury Councils was the only one to receive unanimous support.

Ashburton ruled out the option of going alone as it wouldn’t meet Government requirements.

Deputy Mayor Richard Wilson supported a South Canterbury merger and the opportunity for the Ashburton District to have a “bigger voice”, and there are similarities between the communities.

“They have approached us. They are courting us.”

In looking South, he said many people in Mid Canterbury would look to their holiday destination in Twizel and Tekapo.

A merger with Selwyn would be the “worst case scenario for us” due to the population imbalance, making Ashburton the minority, he said.

He said the council should be looking for a willing partner that offers good representation rather than “pick one because it’s richer than the other”.

The councillors decided they would have another round of engagement with the community, but couldn’t decide on the contents of that.

The five options that received a majority vote in support were:

• Ashburton extending to include the Rangitata South catchment and Rural Selwyn
• Ashburton with South Canterbury (Timaru/Mackenzie/Waimate)
• Ashburton with South Canterbury and Waitaki
• Provincial Mid-North Canterbury (Hurunui, Rural Waimakariri, Rural Selwyn, and Ashburton)
• Provincial Canterbury (all of Canterbury outside of the Greater Christchurch boundary)

McMillan sad the council would workshop the scenarios next week, with the benefit of whatever is gained from the Mayoral Forum. Wednesday’s meeting will be livestreamed from 11.30am.

This would include looking at financial analysis around assets and debt, regional council functions, and representation options in each scenario.

Councillor Phill Everest opposed the decision to delay further discussion due to the Government’s looming August 9 deadline for proposals.