Cr Lee Vandervis. PHOTO: SUPPLIED A super council covering Otago and Southland should be explored to help create a powerhouse region, a Dunedin city councillor has argued. Cr Lee Vandervis said a single unitary council for the South would optimise local government and meet the government’s parameters for amalgamation proposals. That could provide entire catchment oversight, road and rail transport integration, unified waste systems, optimised ports playing to the strengths of Port Chalmers and Bluff, integrated airport services, integrated tourism policy and promotion and rationalised economic development of a new powerhouse region, he said. Unitary authorities are essentially a combination of regional councils and city or district councils. Commentary from Cr Vandervis came ahead of the Dunedin City Council landing on any particular position regarding merger possibilities. The government has set a deadline of August 9 for councils that want to get a head start on pitching amalgamation proposals. The Dunedin City Council is set to have an extraordinary meeting on August 3 to establish a position. Southland councils have already been looking into how local government might be reorganised there. The Local Government Commission is to explore two potential options — a Southland-wide unitary council or having two unitary councils for Southland. The Otago Mayoral Forum has been leading consideration of possibilities for Dunedin, Queenstown Lakes, Central Otago, Clutha and Waitaki. Cr Vandervis has previously expressed unease about what he views as passivity from the Dunedin City Council. In May, he was part of a group of city councillors making the case for a coastal Otago unitary authority covering Dunedin and Waitaki. Waitaki has since decided its preference is to merge with South Canterbury councils, while keeping the door open for Ashburton, Clutha and Central Otago. Cr Vandervis said the city council’s approach so far was ‘‘an appalling disservice to the people of Dunedin’’. In May, Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker said her first preference was to have Dunedin as its own unitary authority, as it already covered ‘‘a huge land area and could manage functions of the Otago Regional Council, especially bus transport and planning’’. Otago Regional Council chairwoman Hilary Calvert doubted a Dunedin unitary authority would be cost-effective. ‘‘It’s possible that central government would let Dunedin go it alone, although it would appear unlikely,’’ she said. City councillor Doug Hall was wary of assuming mergers automatically meant fewer staff or lower costs. ‘‘If history is any guide, there is every chance a new unitary authority could become larger and more expensive than the councils it replaces.’’
