How can communities like Raglan retain a meaningful voice if councils become larger?
It is one of the questions emerging from the Government’s Simplifying Local Government programme, which is asking councils across New Zealand to consider new merger arrangements with neighbouring authorities.
Tony Mayow, former Waitakere City Council Manager of Strategic Partnerships and Advocacy, believes those questions are more important than debates about council boundaries alone.
Drawing on experience from both the 1989 local government reforms and the creation of Auckland’s Super City in 2010, Tony says communities should be asking what local government exists to achieve, how local voices can be preserved and whether proposed reforms will strengthen or weaken local democracy.
What Is the Simplifying Local Government Programme?
The Government’s Simplifying Local Government programme has been described as the biggest shake-up of local government in decades.
Under the programme, councils have been told to work with neighbouring authorities to develop proposals for mergers and other governance changes. The Government says the reforms will improve efficiency and reduce duplication. Councils have until August 9 to submit their proposals and, if they cannot agree on a preferred option, the Government has indicated it may step in and decide future council structures itself.
The programme has attracted significant criticism from councils around the country, particularly over the three-month timeframe provided to develop proposals for what could become the biggest local government reforms since 1989. In one of the strongest responses so far, Manawatū District Council is consulting its community on an option to oppose compulsory amalgamation altogether while exploring alternative ways to meet the Government’s objectives.
What Is Local Government For?
For Tony, local government is about much more than roads, rubbish collection and rates.
“Local government is democracy in action,” he said.
Tony’s views were shaped by his time at Waitakere City Council, where he worked under the city’s Eco City philosophy. The approach recognised that environmental, economic, social and cultural wellbeing are interconnected and should all be considered in decision-making.
His role involved building partnerships between communities, community organisations, local government and central government agencies to identify local needs and coordinate solutions.
Rather than seeing councils as separate from the communities they serve, Tony believes local government should act as a bridge between residents, organisations and government agencies, brokering relationships, creating partnerships, releasing and coordinating resources
He said councils work best when communities are actively involved in identifying priorities and shaping outcomes.
At Waitakere, the council, community organisations and central government agencies met regularly to identify priorities and coordinate action. Tony argues the model demonstrated how local government can act as a connector rather than simply a service provider, helping turn community ideas into practical outcomes.
How Did We Get Here?
The current reform debate is the latest chapter in a long history of local government restructuring.
Before 1989, New Zealand had hundreds of local authorities, including county councils, borough councils and specialist boards. In the Waikato, communities such as Raglan, Huntly and Ngaruawahia each had their own local authorities, with decisions often made close to the communities they affected.
The Local Government Reorganisation of 1989 reduced 850 councils, boards and authorities into just 86 organisations nationwide. The reforms aimed to improve efficiency, reduce duplication and create councils with greater capacity to manage infrastructure and regional issues.
Tony was working in local government at the time and witnessed the changes first-hand.
He acknowledges there were benefits.
“There are some things like water and roading that are much better delivered on a collective basis,” he said.
At the same time, he believes some local decision-making was lost as councils became larger and more centralised.
“There are some things like your local community centre and your libraries and all those things that can easily be delivered on a localised basis.”
He described aspects of the reforms as a “baby and bathwater” exercise, arguing that some valuable local connections were lost alongside genuine inefficiencies.
The reforms also introduced a more corporate style of local government. Tony recalls councils increasingly adopting management systems designed to improve accountability and efficiency. While some changes delivered benefits, others created layers of internal administration.and transactions that did little to improve outcomes for communities.
Governance Is Not the Same as Management
A central theme of the discussion was the distinction between governance and management.
Government ministers say the current reforms will simplify local government and improve efficiency.
Tony questions whether efficiency should be the primary lens through which local government is viewed.
“There’s no such thing as simplifying local government,” he said.
“You can’t make simple that which is complex.”
He argues that while management systems should be efficient, governance has a different purpose.
Local government is responsible for balancing a wide range of competing interests and priorities including infrastructure, economic development, environmental protection, community wellbeing and democratic participation.
In Tony’s view, governance should ultimately be judged by whether communities are well served rather than by organisational simplicity alone.
“You can be as efficient as hell and save all the money you want, but if foodscraps and recyclables end up in landfill, and if the environmental and social wellbeing of your community is not improved, you’re not effective.”
The distinction is important because governance is fundamentally about representation and community outcomes rather than organisational efficiency.
Lessons From the Super City
Tony’s experience during the creation of Auckland’s Super City reinforced many of these views.
The amalgamation brought together several councils and the Auckland Regional Council into a single authority serving more than one million residents.
At the time, concerns were raised that bringing together very different communities under a single authority could weaken local representation.
By then, Tony had left Waitakere City and was chairing Community Waitakere, a community development organisation, which played a major role in organising regional communities input to the new city
The eventual solution included the creation of local boards designed to preserve local input into decision-making.
For Tony, one of the key lessons from Auckland is that larger organisations require strong local structures if communities are to remain connected to decision-makers.
Interestingly, Tony is less concerned about exactly who councils merge with than about what happens afterwards; the values and philosophy of the ultimate structures.
During the interview, he repeatedly returned to the idea that democratic participation matters more than administrative boundaries.
Communities of Interest Matter
Tony also challenged the assumption that bigger organisations are automatically better.
He argued that local government should reflect communities of interest, places where people share common concerns, identities and priorities.
Tony argued that communities are not simply administrative units. They are places with shared histories, identities and priorities, and governance structures need to recognise those relationships.
While regional cooperation may make sense for issues such as transport, infrastructure and environmental management, he believes communities still need meaningful local representation.
The concern is not simply where decisions are made but whether decision-makers understand the communities affected by those decisions.
For places like Raglan, the challenge is ensuring local perspectives remain visible within larger governance structures.
Beyond Community Boards
The discussion also explored alternative ways communities could participate in decision-making.
Tony expressed support for stronger local governance arrangements and highlighted emerging models such as citizens’ assemblies.
These assemblies bring together residents selected to reflect the demographics of a community. Participants hear evidence from experts, discuss issues in depth and develop recommendations.
Rather than replacing elected representatives, Tony sees such approaches as another way to strengthen local democracy and community participation.
The broader principle, he said, is that local people should have a meaningful role in shaping the future of their communities. Do that properly, and the current cynicism towards local government will disappear.
Environmental Governance and Treaty Relationships
The interview also explored concerns about the future of environmental governance.
Regional councils currently play a central role in managing rivers, catchments, water quality and environmental regulation.
Tony questioned what may happen if regional governance structures are significantly altered while other reforms, including fast-track consenting and wider changes affecting Treaty relationships, are occurring at the same time.
He suggested these issues should not be viewed in isolation. In particular, Te Tiriti O Waitangi must be seen as central to all decision making
The Waikato River settlement framework and other long-standing environmental partnerships were highlighted as examples of arrangements that may require careful consideration as governance structures evolve.
For Tony, questions about environmental governance are closely connected to wider discussions about representation, accountability and who has a voice in decisions affecting land, water and communities.
Looking Beyond the Map
As councils work towards the August 9 deadline, Tony believes the most important conversation is not so much about lines on a map, but about how communities can retain a strong voice in an increasingly complex system of governance.
Ultimately, he argues the debate comes back to a simple question: what kind of local government do communities want?
A public forum on local government reform featuring Waikato District Mayor Aksel Bech and former Auckland Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse will be held at the Raglan Town Hall on Sunday June 28, at 2pm. The event will provide an opportunity for residents to hear directly from those involved in local government and contribute to the conversation about how communities like Raglan should be represented in the future.