Strong disagreement between the Napier City Council and the Hastings District Council over a proposal to amalgamate councils in Hawke's Bay has been underlined at Local Government Commission hearings.
The commission has heard submissions on its proposal to amalgamate the Hastings, Napier, Central Hawke's Bay, Wairoa and regional councils into one body.
Napier mayor Bill Dalton is openly hostile towards the proposal, saying councils should be left alone to develop a shared vision for the region.
But Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule says Hawke's Bay is one of the poorest-performing regional economies and amalgamation will help remedy that.
