Whanganui District Council to keep 12 councillors for 2025 elections
Published on 04 September 2024
Whanganui district councillors have opted to keep 12 representatives around the council table for the 2025 local elections.
The final proposal from the council’s representation review was adopted at the full council meeting on Tuesday, 3 September 2024.
For 2025 elections, residents enrolled on the general electoral roll can elect ten general electoral ward councillors, while residents enrolled on the Māori electoral roll can elect two Māori electoral ward councillors – 12 councillors in total. All councillors will have full voting rights and represent the entire community.
The mayor will continue to be elected by all Whanganui district voters. The Whanganui Rural Community Board will be retained, with seven board members representing three rural subdivisions (Whanganui, Kai Iwi and Kaitoke). The final proposal includes changes to the subdivision boundaries between the Kai Iwi and Whanganui subdivisions.
The public consultation period for the proposed representation arrangement ended on 4 August 2024, with 190 submissions received. Five submitters presented their views at a hearing on Tuesday, 13 August 2024.
Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe says councillors appreciated the feedback from the community.
“Like the Long-Term Plan, we had a record number of submissions on the representation review this time. The council received ten submissions to its last representation review in 2018.
“Councillors strongly debated the options of having either 10 or 12 councillors at previous meetings. Our decision to have 12 is a democratic result,” Mayor Andrew says.
“I have said previously that less is more but I acknowledge that we also need to balance that with making sure we have the right voices around the table to represent and to hear our community.”
Close to 60 percent of respondents supported the retention of 12 councillors and 67 percent supported keeping the rural community board.
The final proposal is open for appeals until Sunday, 6 October 2024. Appeals will be forwarded to the Local Government Commission which has indicated that, if required, a hearing will be held on 19 November 2024.
The Local Government Commission will then review the final representation arrangement following any hearing, if needed, and must make its determination by 10 April 2025.
Legislation requires local councils to review representation arrangements at least once every six years to ensure fair and effective community representation.
Read the public notice here