Gilmore said the Government’s amalgamation plan could mean Tararua would “cease to exist”.
He said they would be looking at their options, including merging with other councils, changing their boundaries or aligning parts of their district with different neighbouring areas.
Amalgamation is not new to the region, part of which used to be known as Southern Hawke’s Bay. In 1987, the Dannevirke District Council was formed by the amalgamation of Dannevirke Borough Council and Dannevirke County Council.
Two years later, in 1989, the Dannevirke District Council amalgamated with Eketāhuna County Council, Pahiatua Borough and County Councils, and the Woodville District Council to form the Tararua District Council.
Its name was taken from the two ranges – Tara from the Tararua Ranges and Rua from the Ruahine Ranges.
Gilmore said he had been vocal about his views regarding amalgamation.
“But this conversation can’t be about me, our councillors, or council alone,” he said.
Tararua District Council Mayor Scott Gilmore is holding meetings throughout the district to discuss amalgamation options. Around 65 people attended this meeting in Pahiatua on Monday evening.
“It belongs to the people who live here, raise families here, run businesses here, farm here, and call the Tararua District home.”
Tararua is not the only small council facing uncertainty.
Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Will Foley, also elected in the 2025 local body elections, says they are in the same boat.
“I feel for Scott. We are in the same boat. Government hasn’t given us clear direction on what exactly it wants from councils,” Foley said.
“We would be more than happy to have a discussion with Scott.”
Both mayors were concerned for their rural communities, saying places like Ākitio and Herbertville in the Tararua District, and Ōtāne and Tikokino in CHB, could lose their voices if the mergers were not handled properly.
“It’s not what National campaigned on. There’s been so much reform. We are all still working on the water reforms, it’s just too much,” Foley said.
Gilmore said the options for Tararua included:
merging with Hawke’s Bay councilsbecoming part of a larger council covering the Horizons regioncreating a larger council with Wairarapa councils, and potentially Wellington councilssplitting up the region to align with neighbouring areas.
He said there were two more options – not to participate in reform discussions, which could lead to the Government deciding its structure, or if all the options were unacceptable to the community, fighting the proposals.
“Behind every one of these options sits a much bigger conversation about who we are as a district and where we want to go next,” Gilmore said.
“I’ve also been consistent that I do not support large-scale amalgamation being treated as the default answer to local government reform.
“For districts like the Tararua, there is a real risk that rural voices and priorities become diluted within larger urban-dominated structures or if decision-making is moved far from the people impacted.”
Gilmore will be meeting with communities in the district to discuss options.
Both Foley and Gilmore said the timeframe did not give communities enough time to properly consider changes that could permanently reshape local representation and services.
Foley said the Government would be “shutting down” and going into campaign mode in three months.
“Would there have been any risk in giving us nine months to come back to them?”
Wairoa was another district council with a choice to make, going either north to Gisborne or south to Hawke’s Bay.
A Hastings District Council spokesperson said after the reforms were announced earlier this month, that while there was enough Government detail to prepare an early scope, the discussions between councils on how it would work would need to be done “at speed to gather the relevant local information”.
They said a Hawke’s Bay-wide building consents department and one organisation running dog control were part of the amalgamation options being considered in the region.
“The four mayors (Wairoa’s Craig Little, Foley, Hastings’ Wendy Schollum and Napier’s Richard McGrath), along with HB Regional Council chair Sophie Siers and councillors will be working to set a direction, while council staff will prepare documentation to provide to the Government.”
The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council would be disestablished in 2028.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.