No Union of Banks Peninsula District and Christchurch City

Banks Peninsula District and Christchurch City Councils will not be united into one district, following separate polls of the electors in each area last Saturday. To proceed, over 50% of the votes cast in each poll had to be in favour of the union.

The Minister of Local Government stated that she was pleased people took the opportunity to have their say.

“I wish to congratulate everyone who voted. By participating in the poll, the citizens of the two local authorities have directly determined their future local governance arrangements.” said the Minister.

“This was an important decision and I am sure that people considered the proposal very carefully before voting. Local government, after all, has a huge impact on peoples lives - more so than central government, in many respects.” The Minister said.

“I take an absolutely neutral stance in the whole re-organisation process. Decisions such as this one are for communities to make and the law does not allow for intervention from Wellington - and rightly so.”

“However, as Minister of Local Government, I naturally have a keen interest in observing the application of the Local Government Act, the legislation under which reorganisation polls take place.”

The Local Government Commission issued in December last year a final re-organisation scheme for the union of the Banks Peninsula District and Christchurch City which would have formed a new District known as Christchurch City if polls of both areas had granted approval.