Ashburton was wedged between Canterbury councils, leaving it with the dilemma of which direction to look.<\/p>\n
At the council meeting later on Wednesday afternoon, Deputy mayor Richard Wilson requested a report on the council\u2019s options to consider at the June 10 meeting.<\/p>\n
The presentation had third-term councillor Ellis feeling Ashburton was \u201cpiggy in the middle\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cChange is coming whether we like it or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is so little time to work out something that has such a big impact for our region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are sort of at the whim of what other people want to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cEither side of us are big enough to do their own thing and make up their own mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo put it bluntly, we are screwed here in the middle.<\/p>\n
![\"Ashburton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ashburton-district-councillor-russell-ellis-WBCSSSILYNHDZDWTUNIN2DVNVE.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Ashburton District councillor Russell Ellis. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the two down south [Timaru and McKenzie councils] get together and say, \u2018we want Ashburton\u2019, we don\u2019t even actually get much choice in that, and the same happens above us.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he thought taking the backstop route was the option, but has changed his mind.<\/p>\n
If a council didn’t submit a proposal, or an eligible proposal, it would move into the backstop process where the Government would mandate amalgamations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think any of us in this room have any idea of what the best outcome for us is at this stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to work out what we think is best for our regions, be that a bespoke model, going north, south, or whichever way. That\u2019s our challenge here.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was also concerned people didn’t grasp the reforms weren’t just removing regional councils but \u201cthis is probably the last [Ashburton District Council] as you know it and they haven\u2019t comprehended that yet\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mayor Liz McMillan said it could also mean Ashburton \u201ccould potentially be in the driver\u2019s seat\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ashburton council chief executive Hamish Riach warned there was no point being in the driver seat \u201cif you\u2019re heading to the cliff\u201d, suggesting the council has to propose something that works for Ashburton.<\/p>\n
McMillan was also in favour of working with the rest of Canterbury on proposal options, with the reform to be discussed at the Mayoral Forum on May 29.<\/p>\n
Polaschek\u2019s overview explained that head start was voluntary for councils that were ready to go with amalgamation and there was the potential for bespoke arrangements.<\/p>\n
\u201cHead Start is local government led; backstop is central government led,” she said.<\/p>\n
It was also clarified that councils must present one proposal, not a range of options.<\/p>\n
Ellis asked if a proposal could come from Timaru and Ashburton councils, supporting Ashburton to be a single unitary council.<\/p>\n
Polaschek said it would be an eligible proposal, but it would still have to pass the assessment criteria.<\/p>\n
There were \u201ctrade-offs\u201d in assessing the proposals and there were no hard and fast requirements, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe criteria is \u2018does it make sense for the region?’ There isn\u2019t a minimum population requirement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe is an understanding the five criteria work as a whole. You may meet some better than you meet others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ashburton would consider an options report on June 10 and amalgamation proposals were due on August 9.<\/p>\n
Wilson pushed for the report because \u201cthe clock is ticking\u201d. \u201cThis is one time the councillors may have to make the decision irrespective of public consultation as the massive guide it normally is.\u201d<\/p>\n
McMillan said consultation would follow an outline proposal being submitted.<\/p>\n
Councillor Tony Todd was the only one to indicate a preference, suggesting \u201cwe always tend to head north, against south\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ on Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Councillor Russell Ellis has given a grave interpretation of Ashburton\u2019s position in the local government reforms: \u201cWe are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[158,42,43,135,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-438111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-christchurch-canterbury","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438111","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=438111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}