The Whakatāne District Council has confirmed its preferred democratic representation structure for the next six years and is now seeking formal community feedback on the proposal.
At last week’s Council meeting, Councillors adopted resolutions put forward by the Policy Committee, which would see the retention of the current ward structure and number of elected Council members, as well as the current Rangitāiki, Tāneatua and Murupara community board arrangements. The Council is proposing to amalgamate the current Whakatāne and Ōhope Beach community boards, a move which would reduce the overall number of elected members by six.
Mayor Tony Bonne says Councillors were generally satisfied with the representation provided across the District, and there is therefore no change proposed to the existing wards - Whakatāne-Ōhope (five Councillors), Rangitāiki (three Councillors), Tāneatua-Waimana (one Councillor) and Galatea-Murupara (one Councillor). The Mayor will also continue to be elected across the whole District.
“The community boards were also considered to be playing a beneficial role in providing an additional avenue for input into Council decision-making, particularly for the outlying, largely rural areas,” Mayor Bonne says. “In proposing to merge the existing Whakatāne and Ōhope Beach boards, the consensus view was that the two communities are very closely connected, share the same facilities and services and essentially have the same ‘communities of interest’. It was also noted that the Ōhope Board had struggled to get sufficient nominees to fill all six available positions in recent elections, which had required two by-elections, at a significant cost to the community.”
Pre-consultation undertaken by the Policy Committee with the community boards saw the Whakatāne Board submit in favour of the merged entity, while the Ōhope Board opposed the proposal. Concerns raised included the possibility that Ōhope would have no members on the merged board; that no cost savings would be achieved; that targeted rates would be spent outside the community; that Ōhope was distinct from Whakatāne economically and socially; and that the Ōhope Board works to attract visitors to the area, which would not necessarily be a focus for the combined board. The Committee did not accept that the Ōhope community would be disadvantaged or under-represented if the boards were amalgamated, noting that three of the five Councillors representing the Whakatāne-Ōhope ward were Ōhope residents, as was the Mayor.
Public submissions on the Representation Review proposals will open on Wednesday, 5 August and close at 5 pm on Monday, 7 September. Any submissions received will then be heard by the full Council on 30 September and the final Council decisions notified to all submitters in early October. Submitters will then have one month to lodge an appeal against those decisions. All representation information, including any unresolved appeals or objections, must be forwarded to the Local Government Commission for consideration and/or confirmation by 15 January 2016.
When submissions open, forms will be available here: