The Western Bay of Plenty District Council has resolved to refer a petition from Waihi Beach residents calling for a boundary change that would see their Ward amalgamated with Hauraki District to the Local Government Commission.
788 valid resident electors signed the petition, which was formally submitted to the Western Bay of Plenty District Council on 21 December 2009.
Western Bay of Plenty District Council’s resolution on 18 February follows discussion with other councils affected by the petition, including Hauraki District Council, Environment Bay of Plenty and Environment Waikato.
Legislation requires the affected councils consult with each other within 60 days of receiving a validated petition seeking reorganisation and determine whether the proposal should be dealt with by either:
• A joint committee of the affected councils (or)
• One of the affected councils being appointed to deal with it (or)
• Referring the matter directly to the local government commission.
Ross Paterson, Western Bay of Plenty District Mayor said his Council’s decision to head to the Local Government Commission was in line with Environment Bay of Plenty, Environment Waikato and Hauraki District Council. In addition, the Waihi Beach Community Board at an extraordinary meeting on Monday, 15 February resolved for the matter to be dealt with by the Commission.
“We’ll be contacting the Commission today to let them know our decision and the timing of the resulting process will be up to them.
“As a Council we’re cognizant of providing clarity to submitters and the rest of the Waihi Beach community in a timely manner and I’m sure the Local Government Commission shares this view,” said Ross.