Wellington, Wairarapa Councils To Vote On Amalgamation Plan With Details Still To Iron OutJuly 28, 2026The eight councils across Wellington and Wairarapa will vote next week on the region’s amalgamation proposal an overarching authority with subsidiary community councils with Upper Hutt likely to bail out and the Kāpiti Coast wanting to have its own standalone authority. The paper compared the regional authority with two alternatives that could include a separate Wairarapa authority or one that combined Horowhenua and Kāpiti. MartinJenkins had estimated a mega authority of Wellington, Wairarapa and Horowhenua would cost $273 million to set up. If ministers were unhappy about Wellington’s amalgamation proposal, they could throw the region to the “backstop” and decide what the region’s governing structure would look like. A group of councils representing a majority of a region’s population could also submit an amalgamation plan for the entire region, even including councils that objected.