At a public meeting last Wednesday, National Party leader Christopher Luxon was asked by Councillor Bede Laracy if a government led by him would force Kapiti into a merger it didn’t want with Wellington.  (Earlier in the meeting Luxon has highlighted what a terrible job the Wellington City Council had been doing).

When Bede Laracy asked that question, there was a clear murmuring of discontent in the room about the possibility of such a merger.

Luxon spoke about the process that the government was following – and that there were no “pre-determined” outcomes – but he did not say that a forced merger was off the table.  Instead, he said that no commitments has been made one way or another.   He mentioned that this was a decision that local communities should make, but the Government’s own process allows for decisions about Kapiti to be made by either by the Wellington City and Hutt councils, or by Cabinet – whether Kapiti residents support those decisions or not.

After the formal meeting finished, our Chairperson approached Luxon to follow up on his answers.  After the formal meeting finished, our Chairperson approached Luxon who talked about the cumulative impact of year on year rate rises – something we know about only too well in Kapiti. He seemed surprised at the 115% hike we are facing. On the matter of amalgamation,  he commented that for Kapiti people, the issues were just not going to go away but offered nothing more.

Luxon could have been under no illusion of the strength of local feeling on this matter.  We have written to Simon Watts, Chris Bishop and Tim Costley outlining our opposition to any forced merger with Wellington.  We will keep the pressure on … and we will continue to ask all politicians of all political persuasions where they stand on this.  We will let you know what they say.

DISCLAIMER:   CRK is not aligned to any political party. Our focus is on how Central Government decisions affect local government — and ultimately, the rates we all pay.  We’ll continue asking the questions and reporting back on what the political parties are actually proposing.