“Being in charge of my own destiny” is what enticed district council candidate Blake Webb to start his own businesses in Gisborne.

Webb went from being a high school dropout and young dad to owning two businesses.

Now he wants to bring his skills to the council table.

The 32-year-old has two sons, aged 9 and 12.

“We’ve still got so much time left and I want to have a say in what happens in the region for their futures.”

He is competing with 18 other candidates for the eight general ward seats.

Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting, Webb said his campaign focused on supporting businesses, adopting a conservative approach to spending and improving the council’s consultation process.

Webb said it was through his own hardships that he learned how to be financially conservative, and he wanted to bring these skills as a councillor.

“I learned how to distinguish important from non-important and cut the non-important out of your budget.

“Councils keep putting up rates ... and that can only be explained by one thing. Their expenditure is higher than their income,” he said.

Raised in Gisborne, Webb moved to Wairoa with his family when he was a teenager.

At the age of 15, a challenging home environment led Webb to move out and he left school to support himself.

Leaving school without qualifications is what “paved the way for everything else ... being uneducated on paper, you don’t have a lot of opportunities”, he said.

He met his now-wife at 18, had their first son when he was 19 and their second son was born a few years later.

After working his way up the ladder at a Bunnings in Tokoroa, the young family moved back to Gisborne in 2017 to be closer to their families.

He took up a management role at Carl’s Jr fast food restaurant and it was during that time he saw the possibilities of owning a franchise.

In 2022, he opened a Gisborne branch of Mexican restaurant franchise Zambrero on Bright St, which this year transitioned into an independent Mexican restaurant called MexiKiwi.

In 2023, Webb also started a property maintenance company, which he anticipated would be a “side hustle” and now employs three people.

Webb believes businesses don’t have a strong voice at the council and his own frustrations have motivated him to run.

When building his restaurant, the consent process took 66 days when it should have been 20, he said.

The costs for the restaurant ballooned from $350,000 to $487,000 because of delays, he said.

“Businesses have not been represented properly and I think I’m the one to do that because I’ve been through the wringer with the council.”

Webb said he had also experienced a lack of consultation with the council for matters that affected his business.

Improved consultation was another of his aims if elected.

“I haven’t got billboards up ... because I’m doing an in-person campaign. I’m walking around and knocking on people’s doors, talking to them.

“Councillors are democratically elected representatives. You need to represent the interests of your voting base ... so how do you know where they stand if you don’t consult with them?”

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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