The Government is pausing council amalgamations until after the election.

Deon Swiggs, regional chair of Local Government New Zealand, says the government should have settled the direction in May rather than ask for more time.

He says the environment chapter of the RMA reform starts with regional councils as the governing body and then changes halfway through.

“That is a huge risk for the whole system.”

He says specialist staff attrition at regional councils is starting to creep up.

“We need to really slow this down and ask what are we trying to achieve?”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.

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