In the South Island, Waimakariri District Council in Canterbury also need to start a review for the 2028 election. “The Council has been advised that it must continue meeting its current representation review obligations,” an Upper Hutt council spokesperson said. The city is likely to bail out, as mayor Peri Zee told her counterparts last week she would ask councils to write the city out of any amalgamation proposal. 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. Zee previously said amalgamation costs were significant and the financial benefits were “unlikely to be realised on any reasonable term”.