Rotorua Lakes Council is continuing work on potential council amalgamations.
Elected members today decided to continue assessment of merger options as part of the local government reforms programme, with more detail sought on six criteria areas to guide further work: financial health; communities of interest; mana whenua views and commitments; economic alignment; local voice and political representation; and ability to deliver the Government’s reform priorities.
Through its Simplifying Local Government programme, the Government is looking to reduce the number of councils across New Zealand and move to unitary authorities.
A voluntary fast-track option, called Head Start, allows councils to submit their own high-level “outline proposals” for their regions. The deadline for proposals (which must be submitted by groups of councils, not individual councils) is 9 August 2026.
At today’s meeting elected members decided to continue assessing options for a Head Start proposal. The six potential options for further assessment are:
(a) A Unitary Authority consisting of all Territorial Authorities in the Bay of Plenty;
(b) A Unitary Authority consisting of Rotorua, and Southern Councils (Taupō and / or South Waikato).
(c) A Unitary Authority consisting of Rotorua and Eastern Councils (Whakatāne, Kawerau and Ōpōtiki)
(d) A Unitary Authority consisting of Rotorua and Western Councils (Bay of Plenty and Tauranga)
(e) A Unitary Authority following main catchment and iwi boundaries (consisting of Rotorua and the Kaituna catchment portion of Western Bay of Plenty)
(f) Any combination of the above or other configurations that become apparent through the review process.
No preferred option has been identified yet but Council confirmed the detailed measures that will be used to compare options, based on criteria previously approved by Council.
A final decision on whether to submit an outline proposal and if so, which other councils Rotorua Lakes Council would prefer to combine with, will be made at a Council meeting on 29 July.
As part of an amendment to the recommendations presented today, Council also agreed to direct the CE to seek formal clarification from the Minister of Local Government and the Department of Internal Affairs regarding the impact, if any, of amalgamations on the 2025 binding referendum on Maori Wards. Council noted that it has not received advice regarding the legal status of the referendum in the event of the establishment of any new unitary authority.
To gather input from the community to assist decision-making Rotorua Lakes Council has had discussions with iwi, community, business and sector groups. The council also ran an online survey and Facebook poll for locals to share their views and identify what is important to them in any local government change.
The survey was completed by 323 people and more than 2,700 people voted in the poll.
High level themes from responses received were:
- Protecting our local voice and Rotorua identity
- Connections with Taupō and/or South Waikato neighbours
- Concerns about rates and financial risk
- Process feels rushed, with limited consultation
- Protecting Māori/iwi representation and Treaty obligation
The survey followed a Council meeting on 8 June when elected members decided to continue investigating whether participating in Head Start is in the best interests of the Rotorua district.
Read the full report considered by Council today via the following link on Rotorua Lakes Council’s website: Late Items Agenda of Council Meeting - Wednesday, 24 June 2026
See the presentation slides related to engagement results at this link
Today’s meeting was livestreamed and you can go directly to this part of the meeting recording via the following link on Council’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/qJpXdymGRbs?t=892
