Steve Cretney - Mayor - Carterton District Council

14/06/2026

Please take note of the dates proposed for our community meetings, where we will discuss and answer your questions on Amalgamation.
From my discussions with residents, there is certainly a preference for a Wairarapa Unitary Model.

I would like to pre-empt a few questions that might arise and provide some basic information as to Governments direction on amalgamation to date.

If the 3 Wairarapa Councils agree to move forward with a Wairarapa Unitary Authority, a basic proposal needs to be submitted to Government by 9th August.

Minister Bishop along with DIA have stated, only 4-5 proposals will be accepted to go through the fast-tracking process, and they will need to be approved by cabinet.
It is likely any remaining proposals will then fall under what’s called the “Back Stop” process, following the 2028 Local Government Elections, which is when Central Government has suggested they will decide the fate of the remaining Councils.

Neither Minister Bishop, Minister Watts or DIA have suggested they would be prepared to extend the 9th August timeline, meaning we need to commit to submitting a proposal, which is in the best interests of Wairarapa residents and future generations.

Public Transport is a service shared across all councils in the Wellington Region. Discussions have supported looking into creating a Regional Transport Authority, thus removing it from any Wellington Unitary or Wairarapa Unitary Model, which would enable simplification of any Wairarapa Unitary proposal.

The Unitary Benchmarking Assessment completed by Morrison Low, is just a guide as to the plausibility of a Wairarapa Unitary. Please take a moment to read the executive summary, if you’re not interested in reading the whole document.
The assessment points to a potential rates increase of between 2%-20% on existing Regional Council Rates, if a Wairarapa Unitary proposal is agreed to across the 3 councils, but any discussion around what level that might be, would come to light over the 24 months of developing the model and structure, that’s if our proposal is even accepted by cabinet.

During the process of developing a Wairarapa Unitary Authority, every effort would be made to restrict any rate rise, but consultation would occur with our communities as we work through creating the model.
A lower level of service could be an option, but we’re also waiting on changes to the Resource Management Act, which may reduce the financial burden on a Unitary. Minister Bishop has also stated Government would look to retain Environmental Enforcement, and that is a significant portion of existing regional council function.

Please send through any questions you might have and take a moment to complete our very quick survey, which will be released tomorrow.

Amalgamation information update:

We have now received the benchmarking report we jointly commissioned with Masterton District Council and South Wairarapa District Council. It’s a preliminary assessment of whether we could operate together as a single unitary authority.

View this directly here: https://shorturl.at/2oe0G

We’re sharing it with you now, ahead of our public meeting schedule, so you have time to have a look through the information we have to hand.

🟡 From Monday 15 June, we’ll open our survey so you can share your views.

🟡 On Monday 22 June, we’ll hold our first community information session at 6.30pm at Wairarapa Events Centre

🟡 On Tuesday 23 June, we'll hold a second community information session from 6.30pm at Gladstone Inn.

🟡 From Monday 22 to Wednesday 24 June, we’ll have an information display at the Wairarapa Events Centre, with staff available to help you explore information, complete the survey, and answer questions.

🟡 On Wednesday 24 June we'll host a drop-in session with Councillors and staff
in our Wairarapa Events Centre foyer, from 10.30am to 12.30pm.

This report has been completed in a short timeframe using mostly publicly available data, with limited input from other councils. The authors are clear that there are limitations to the analysis, and that it is an early assessment rather than a full business case.

We expect more information will come to hand over time, and we’ll continue to share updates as we learn more.

It’s important to note that while councils may form a preferred option, whether that’s a Wairarapa unitary council or joining a wider Wellington structure, the final decision will sit with the Government.

We look forward to seeing you at our information sessions and hearing your views.

Full information and link to the benchmarking report is available at www.cdc.govt.nz/amalgamation

14/06/2026

Thoroughly enjoyed attending the final of Rotary Carterton's - Talent Wairarapa 2026 last night at the Wairarapa Events Centre with Maria Cretney.
We have such an incredible range of amazingly talented young people living in the Wairarapa, showing such passion and professionalism in their chosen field of performance.
MC Lucy Cooper was brilliant in keeping the evening moving along, with judges Stella Lennox, Cimone Grayson and Mikey Krishnan-Jones having the very difficult task of selecting the runners-up and winners.

The finalists all performed to an extremely high standard, which I'm sure made the judges decisions all the more demanding.

Congratulations to all finalists, runners up and winners.

Of special significance for me, was Latoria Reiri being named as Runner Up, after her incredible solo performance, singing "Stand Up" by Cynthia Erivo, which is a song about taking her people to a new home, and was the theme song to the hit movie Harriet. I highly recommend watching it but make sure you have a box of tissues handy.
I was extremely proud of Latoria, who is participating in the Tuia mentoring programme, which supports young rangatahi Māori to develop leadership skills and contribute to their communities throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
Each mayor that participates, selects a young Māori member of their community to mentor over a year, meeting regularly to discuss leadership, cultural values, and local issues.

Thank you to Rotary Carterton for the invitation.

I highly recommend entering this competition in 2027, as it was extremely well run and a wonderful opportunity to test your performance in the public arena.

05/05/2026

I'm very concerned at the speed in which this Government are turning the screws on our local councils.
We're already under extreme pressure ensuring LWDW is a success, without throwing more unfunded mandates onto councils.

The Ministers proposals are all fine and dandy in principal, but what are the costs to our ratepayers if we do not join the Wellington Metro's and decide to take the offramp to set up our own unitary authority.
Are our ratepayers actually prepared to cover the lost revenue, currently subsidised by the Wellington Metro's population of ratepayers, so we can be in charge of our own destiny and create a Wairarapa future for our next generations.
We are lacking in critical information that can only come from the likes of Marlborough District Council, who have been through this process and have a unitary authority with a population of similar size.
Apparently, Central Government are not going to retain any functions of regional councils and they will all transfer to a new unitary if we so choose that option, so, I'm not sure 3 months will be enough time to firstly, decide if we're going to offramp from the Wgtn proposal, or secondly, work through financials to determine if its even a plausible option to create a unitary authority.
GWRC is gone, so we either join with Wgtn or choose a Wairarapa option, which could be a financial noose around our ratepayers necks.

Councils do have to consult with their ratepayers on any significant changes and this would be the biggest faced following on from the Local Water Done Well decision.

We have some serious work to do and less than 3 months to try and ensure we're making the best decision on behalf of our community.

What are your thoughts on this polarizing issue?

02/05/2026

In case you havent seen the link to the new Carterton Conversations Podcast, here it is. Please be gentle, as it is our first attempt, but we're prepared for critique if it happens to come our way.
Let me know if there is a topic you would like us to cover and we will try and work it into a future podcast.

Thanks for listening.

2 likes. "Episode 1: Carterton Conversations"

02/04/2026

Glorious morning with a magical mist hovering over Carrington Park, as the crowds await the burners firing up and the beautiful balloons to fill with air and float across our skies.
An incredible turnout of people for the CDC sponsored "Carterton Welcome Flight".
What a fantastically magical autumn morning, to start the Wairarapa Balloon Festival.
Make sure you join the pilots and crews over the next 3 mornings.

02/04/2026

Amazing turnout on this beautiful Carterton morning.
Still time to come on down.

26/03/2026

MTFJ doing great things across the Wairarapa, connecting our rangatahi with employers willing to support our youth into employment.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Lb8KdEJt1/

26/02/2026

The headline to this article is very misleading. It was initially a project proposed under the Carterton Community Group KaPai Carterton, in partnership with DIA. The community were told approx $3.5m of funding was available through DIA, so representatives from schools and various community organizations came together and were told to think big as nothing was off the table.
The community spent many hours working through the design phase with WSP designers, and concepts were produced for evaluation and approval by the community members involved.
Final designs were completed and tendering was undertaken.
The final options were presented to council at $6.5m.
Council chose to approve the plans if funding was provided externally to complete Stage 1&2 and council would complete stage 3.
Disappointingly, DIA funding disappeared, meaning the community had been mislead, leaving council to decide how to proceed.
Council eventually chose to support funding of $2m through reserves, prior to final design changes to suit the budget.
This obviously proved extremely tight and to expect the skate park users to find $200,000 was extremely unrealistic.
Council approved the increase in budget of $900k to cover the increased cost.
We own that decision together, but we must ensure it does not exceed the approved budget of $2.9m which is funded from reserves held from financial contributions towards Parks and reserves capital work and from depreciation reserves for parks and reserves paid for by you our ratepayers.
It is time we spent a portion of the $4.5m in parks and reserves, as you have all been contributing towards it for years.

I personally look forward to the park upgrade being a showpiece of Carrington Park and an attraction to get people to stop in our town, hopefully spending a few dollars supporting our economy.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/02/26/carterton-council-approves-900000-blowout-for-park-upgrade/