Southland District Mayor Rob Scott is confident his council is ahead of the game on local government reform following news it would be sped up across the country.
On Tuesday, the government announced a three-month window for councils to put together reorganisation proposals, otherwise decisions would be made on their behalf.
Mr Scott has been a vocal supporter of amalgamation in his patch, having gone public in August 2024 with a proposal which is being investigated by the Local Government Commission.
He said his council provided the answer a couple of years ago, but acknowledged it was a tight three-month timeframe.
Invercargill Mayor Tom Campbell supported moving faster on amalgamation and felt what had been proposed was a sensible way to do that.
Mr Campbell believed the allowed time should be long enough to come up with a proposed structure depending on how much detail the government required.
“ICC will be working positively with our neighbours to see if we can reach agreement within the three-month window of opportunity.”
In Gore, Mayor Ben Bell said an option to fast track had been expected, but he did not think three months was long enough.
Southland was in an "advantageous spot” because of the work which had already been done with the Local Government Commission, he said.
“These are once in a generation conversations that we’ve got to pack into three months so yeah, they will be complicated.”
In a statement, Environment Southland chair Jeremy McPhail expressed disappointment regional councils had been excluded from making proposals, but said that wouldn't stop them from advocating.
The government’s announcement followed a November proposal to shake-up local government.
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop said 1,100 submissions were received from councils, sector groups, iwi and the public during consultation.
The government expects final decisions to be made in 2027 with changes coming into effect ahead of 2028 local elections.
There are a total of 78 councils across the country, including city, district, regional, and unitary authorities.
• LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
