Mike Butler: 63 percent oppose amalgamation

A Consumerlink poll shows that Hawke’s Bay voters are 63 percent against amalgamating the five councils in the region. Over the past week Consumerlink asked 985 voters whether they would vote for or against a proposal for a Hawke's Bay Council to cover Napier city, Wairoa, Hastings, and Central Hawke's Bay, which would take over the responsibilities of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council, and have five local boards and a Maori board, with headquarters in Napier.

To reflect the proportion of voters in each district, 473 responses were sought from Hastings as 47.3 percent of the total population of the region, 426 from Napier, 58 from Wairoa and 42 from Central Hawke’s Bay.