Council petition expected to be lodged by Christmas

A petition calling for a review of council amalgamation options in the Nelson region will be sent to the Local Government Commission before Christmas, says the petition's promoter, Aldo Miccio.

However, about 500 signatures still need to be collected from Tasman district residents.

The petition was launched by Mr Miccio, a Nelson city councillor, in July. It needs 4000 signatures from both Tasman and Nelson.

This number of signatures has already been collected in Nelson.

The signatures of 10 per cent of registered voters in Nelson and Tasman are required before the petition can be sent to the commission.

The Local Government Commissioner will then consult with affected parties, such as the councils and local iwi. The commissioner publicly notifies a draft model for council reorganisation before submissions are called for. The commissioner's final model would then go to a poll.

Mr Miccio said he had hoped to collect all 8000 signatures by the end of October. He now hoped that the outstanding 500 signatures would be collected at the Nelson A&P Show at the Richmond Showgrounds later this month. The petition would then be sent to the commission before Christmas.

Mr Miccio was pleased with the number of signatures collected so far.

"The debate the petition has raised only proves to me that we are in desperate need for an independent study into governance options for our region.

"We maintain the point that signing the petition is not a yes or no vote for amalgamation, it is simply to ask for a study so we can evaluate the facts of what the costs and benefits could be if we amalgamated our two councils."

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