{"id":374343,"date":"2026-04-11T09:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T09:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/374343\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T09:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T09:21:10","slug":"whanganui-mayor-keen-to-explore-split-of-manawatu-whanganui-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/374343\/","title":{"rendered":"Whanganui mayor keen to explore split of Manawat\u016b-Whanganui region"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tripe told the Chronicle he saw an opportunity, regardless of the outcome of the Government\u2019s simplification of local government proposal<\/a>, to \u201cthink about what we call ourselves and who we are\u201d.<\/p>\n

The region reaches from southern Hawke\u2019s Bay to just north of Taumarunui and down to Levin, which Tripe said was \u201cjust ludicrous\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Whanganui and our neighbours have got to a point of maturity where we can stand alone from Manawat\u016b,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will always be our friends, they will always be our neighbours but we can part ways with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tripe said other regions in New Zealand had a clear, unique identity, whereas this region was \u201cmixed and varied\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the way statistics and data were collected from the region was problematic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be able to talk about this region and sub-region specifically, not the Manawat\u016b-Whanganui Region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur house prices, our health indicators, our economic indicators are bundled in from coast-to-coast pretty much; it doesn\u2019t reflect Whanganui.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MayorMayor Andrew Tripe believes the Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangit\u012bkei districts have similar natural landscapes. Photo \/ Erin Smith<\/p>\n

Tripe said Manawat\u016b, Horowhenua and Tararua naturally \u201cbundle around each other\u201d, while Whanganui, Rangit\u012bkei and Ruapehu have more shared commonalities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a natural region in itself, from mountains to sea; we have got rivers, mountains, shared boundaries and a commonality in the way we think,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are predominantly rural and we connect through iwi and hap\u016b, our history, our transport, and the visitation of these areas naturally aligns to those geographic boundaries, in my view.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tripe said he would be surprised if other districts did not have the same issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be preferable to make the change rather than suffer over generations with this name that doesn\u2019t reflect who we are,\u201d Tripe said.<\/p>\n

The Local Government Act sets out two processes that could be used to split a region, according to the Local Government Commission.<\/p>\n

If one or more affected local authorities, or at least 10% of electors in the area, initiate a reorganisation request, a poll of electors could be held over the affected area.<\/p>\n

A positive poll result would be required before a reorganisation plan could be implemented.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, if all the affected local authorities were in agreement, there could be a council-led process. <\/p>\n

The commission would become involved only at the end of the process to determine whether it met legislative requirements.<\/p>\n

Tripe said understanding what simplification for local government looked like was needed before releasing the proposal for public consultation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese things take time but I\u2019d rather get the process and work started – there\u2019ll be an appropriate time to do that,\u201d Tripe said.<\/p>\n

Horizons Regional Council\u2019s Whanganui representative Alan Taylor said discussions about reforming the region were premature.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t favour moving away from the kind of regional government that we have for the responsibilities that the regional council holds now, because they are significantly river catchment-based.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kind of catchments that we have in our region are similar – they are different in other regions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe regional basis and grouping of those rivers together makes a lot of sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor disagreed that there was a lack of identity for the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the region is quite well-defined at the moment … whether it is wise to group some territorial authorities as separate entities within that? As an individual, I\u2019d be a bit concerned about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said trying to split up the similar iwi affiliations could be problematic.<\/p>\n

However, the Tararua District may feel economically and culturally isolated and could fit better within Hawke\u2019s Bay or the Wairarapa area, he said.<\/p>\n

Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith agreed there was a \u201cdistinct difference between Whanganui and the wider Manawat\u016b\u201d but said any restructuring would depend on the simplification of local government outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very much around communities of interest … in my opinion, you have got to have numbers,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is this Government will be all around the numbers and economy – that probably means we will be together for a little while longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PalmerstonPalmerston North Mayor Grant Smith agrees there are distinct identities in the region. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Taylor said it was wise to keep the \u201cbig sister city\u201d close instead of creating more boundaries, noting Palmerston North ratepayers contributed to Horizons\u2019 mole restoration projects in Whanganui.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would not be a good thing for Whanganui. So many people go through to Palmerston North for entertainment and retail business,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither of us are huge cities by global standards, in any respect, why intensify the boundaries between them?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tripe said the idea of splitting the region had been discussed several times recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no negative feedback at all, I think people are overwhelmingly positive and even people from Palmerston North understand that as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnecdotal evidence would suggest that there\u2019s a strong appetite for it to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tripe told the Chronicle he saw an opportunity, regardless of the outcome of the Government\u2019s simplification of local…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[20251,30642,8815,8596,195323,10934,111,43,139,69,1118,59676,381,47788,8692,195324,61,56932,14638,1883],"class_list":{"0":"post-374343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-andrew","9":"tag-ball","10":"tag-explore","11":"tag-keen","12":"tag-manawatwhanganui","13":"tag-mayor","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-nz","18":"tag-of","19":"tag-possibility","20":"tag-region","21":"tag-rolling","22":"tag-split","23":"tag-splitting","24":"tag-to","25":"tag-tripe","26":"tag-wants","27":"tag-whanganui"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}