Three newcomers will join eight returning councillors after the final Taranaki Regional Council local election results were revealed.

The 11 decision makers have been elected for the next three years and their decisions will be vital as the Council faces a number of challenges including legislative reforms to the Resource Management Act.

The new faces around the Council table are John Maxwell and Jonathan Young in the New Plymouth Constituency and Lee Kennedy in North Taranaki.

Re-elected in New Plymouth are Susan Hughes, Tom Cloke and Craig Williamson, returning in North Taranaki is Mike Davey, Alan Jamieson is back as the Stratford councillor and Donna Cram and Neil Walker won the two seats in South Taranaki.

Bonita Bigham remains the Taranaki Māori Constituency councillor as she was already elected unopposed.

Te Tōpuni Ngārahu, the representative organisation of the eight Taranaki iwi, has endorsed Alison Anitawaru Cole, Richard Buttimore and Shi-han Grace Ngarewa to sit on the Council’s Operations and Regulatory Committee and Dion Luke, Emily Tuhi-Ao Bailey and Mitchell Ritai as representatives on the Policy and Planning Committee.

Chief Executive Steve Ruru says: “All of us at the Council are looking forward to working with the new governance team including the iwi representatives over the next triennium.

“It’s particularly pleasing to see how positive our election has been and I’d like to thank all those involved in making the election a success.”

Voters in the Māori Constituency referendum have chosen to remove the constituency for the 2028 and 2031 elections. There were 21,095 votes in favour of removing the consistency while 16,721 voted to retain it.

A Council meeting will be held in the next few weeks where councillors will decide who will be the Chair and Deputy Chair for the triennium.

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