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The Government announced its Head Start Pathway in May, giving councils until early August to submit proposals for local government amalgamation within their region.
Councils will need to meet the Government’s deadline to submit proposals on how to amalgamate, or face the Government doing it for them.
Each council has launched a survey to gather feedback from residents.
Selwyn District Council had received 5000 responses by Tuesday. The Selwyn survey can be found here.
Christchurch City Council's survey, which can be found here, had about 3500 responses.
Waimakariri District Council was unable to say how many responses it had to its survey.
Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger says that while a unitary model is the ultimate outcome of the reform, there is flexibility in how Canterbury can be organised.
“The key now is working together. That means sitting down with neighbouring councils, mana whenua, and all stakeholders to have the necessary conversations,” he said.
“A strong model will support local identity and voice, while building the regional capability our communities need.”
Selwyn Mayor Lydia Gliddon is open-minded about the result and wants to hear what the community prefers.
“These changes will affect how local decisions are made and how services are delivered
in Selwyn. We need to know what matters most to the community. We’ll then take that feedback to the discussion table with our neighbouring councils,” she said.
One option is for Selwyn, Christchurch, and Waimakariri to create a greater Christchurch super city.
Gliddon has previously said she does not believe a super city is the “right answer”.
“I don’t think it is the best outcome for the whole of Selwyn, and that is what we need to look at.”
Selwyn’s survey asks whether the council should combine with neighbouring councils, take on the functions currently delivered by Environment Canterbury, both options, or neither.
Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon said it was important the community was "involved in the conversation".
"This isn't something that we have chosen, but it is something we have to work through and the best way to do that is to be open and transparent in our thinking and make sure we ask what our residents think as well,” he told RNZ.
Waimakariri was consulting on three options in response to the local council reform.
Alongside both the status quo and the greater Christchurch proposal, it was asking for feedback on which North Canterbury unitary council would see a merger with the Hurunui and Kaikoura district councils.