Report: Grounded - Strengthening regional services at the right scale through local government reform

Regional and unitary councils have acknowledged the extraordinary willingness of councils across the country to consider major change to local government structures throughout the Head Start, but the resulting patchwork of proposals has not yet produced a simpler or cohesive future system, regional leaders say.

With eighteen proposals now before Government, competing proposals in some parts of the country and the backstop arrangements for other areas still to be determined, local government leaders say this is an important moment to step back and test what has emerged against the outcomes New Zealand needs.