Wellington and Northland will not be reorganised into "super cities", while Hawke's Bay is to hold a referendum on amalgamation.
The Local Government Commission has decided not to proceed with its draft proposals for single councils in the North Island regions, instead it would return to those communities to work with them and seek to develop other options to address challenges they face.
However, a binding region-wide poll will be held before the end of this year to decide whether Hawke's Bay's five councils will be amalgamated.
Commission chairman Basil Morrison said today that different regions had different challenges and required different responses.
"All three communities have indicated some change in local government is needed to ensure regions can be more effective and efficient and make decisions about what will be needed in future.
"We believe in Hawke's Bay there is community support for reorganising local government, that the final proposal will promote good local government, and is in the region's best interests."
Commission chief executive Sandra Preston said there was little support for the major structural option proposed for Wellington, but there was a widespread mood for some form of change.
In Northland, the councils had also made progress in identifying alternative ways to provide good local government since the draft proposal was released and the commission hopes to work with the community in building on that momentum.
As required under the Local Government Act, if this process results in new options for reform with community support the commission would then prepare new draft proposals for wider consultation in Wellington and Northland.
The Green Party welcomed the news that Wellington would not be reorganised into a single local government body.
"People in the Wellington region have sent a clear message that they do not want an Auckland type super-city," local government spokesperson Eugenie Sage said.
"It is important that any change is driven by the community rather than imposed on the community. It is also important that any change strengthens rather than reduces local democracy as the super-city and local boards would have done."
Northland council happy
Northland Regional Council chairman Bill Shepherd said today's announcement ended months of uncertainty over the process.
"We told the Local Government Commission during its reform hearings in March last year that we couldn't support its draft proposal as it stood at that time; we asked it to do more work and then issue a fresh draft. The ball has been in its court since then."
Mr Shepherd said a general election and other reorganisation proposals elsewhere, including Wellington, had meant the fate of the original draft had taken much longer to resolve than many Northlanders would have liked.
"But at the end of the day, we've now got some certainty going forward, as well as an acknowledgement that some local government change is necessary to ensure regions like ours can be more effective and efficient in future."
The heart of the council's opposition to the draft was the commission's heavy reliance on 'community boards' with the council keen to see much stronger 'local boards' with their own powers and budgets introduced, Mr Shepherd said.
The regional council also felt any final proposal should have included a wider range of options for Maori representation and decision-making.
Hawke's Bay proposal
Commission chairman Basil Morrison said a final proposal for Hawke's Bay had been issued because there was "community support" for a reorganisation of the region's local government structure.
A poll would be held sometime between September and December, depending on when a valid petition was received.
Anti-amalgamation groups now have 60 working days to rally opposition to the proposal. They need to get 10% of registered voters in one of the region's existing territorial local authority areas to sign a petition demanding a poll in order for the referendum to take place.
Under the commission's proposal, a Hawke's Bay Council would be created late next year to replace Napier City, Wairoa District, Hastings District, Central Hawke's Bay District, and Hawke's Bay Regional Councils.
The new council would be a unitary authority, responsible for both regional council and territorial authority functions. Its decision-making responsibilities would be shared between a governing body and five local boards.
The council governing body will consist of a mayor elected by voters across the region and 18 councillors elected by voters in five wards, with the same boundaries as the local board areas: Wairoa, Ngaruroro, Napier, Hastings and Central Hawke's Bay.
