On June 30, the number of component municipalities of Amt Neuhaus shrank to six, before the remaining ones merged into the unitary municipality of the same name. With the Elbe bridge between Darchau and Neu Darchau a solid street connection between Amt Neuhaus and the rest of Lower Saxony is in the process being planned. In a referendum the inhabitants of Amt Neuhaus voted for a merger with the city of Bleckede on 7 June 2009. Bleckede, however, had not decided