Representation review

On August 26 Hastings District Council approved an initial Hastings proposal for the ongoing representation of the Hastings district, and people now have the opportunity to have their say on the proposal.

Following the decision to adopt Māori wards in May this year, the council was required to undertake a representation review to determine the number of councillors, whether to have wards or mix of wards and an at-large voting system, ward boundaries, numbers of councillors from each ward, and whether or not to have community boards, ahead of the next triennial local government elections in 2022.

The initial proposal suggests a single Māori ward across the entire district, called Takitimu, that the number of councillors be increased by one to 15 from 14, plus the mayor, and it makes some minor boundary changes to the existing five wards that otherwise will remain the same.

The Rural Community Board would be retained in its current form with minor adjustments to boundaries.

Under the proposal, electors on the Māori roll would vote for (up to) three candidates standing in the Takitimu Māori ward and also the mayor.

Twelve members would be elected from the other five wards. This would be a reduction of the current number of members from those wards – the Flaxmere ward would reduce from two to one representative, and there would be seven rather than eight councillors for the Hastings/Havelock North ward.

The proposal is now open to public submissions, with a deadline of October 1.

To make a submission and for further information about the process please visit https://www.hastingsdc.govt.nz/our-council/elections/representation-review/

8 September 2021

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