13 April 2006

How many Regional Councillors?

Greater Wellington Regional Council is looking at how many councillors it needs to represent the region. New legal requirements may lead to new representation arrangements.

There are currently 13 councillors representing the six constituencies. There is one councillor each for Upper Hutt, Porirua and Kapiti, two for the Wairarapa, three for Lower Hutt and five for Wellington.

The Council has set up a Representation Review Subcommittee which will consider all the options and come up with a recommended proposal. Once the proposal is agreed by Council, it will go out for public comment in June.

Legislation requires “fair” and “effective” representation. Fair representation is determined by the number of people each councillor represents.

“The Council can only vary from the required number of people per councillor if more, or fewer, councillors are needed to provide effective representation of communities of interest. This would then have to be approved by the Local Government Commission,” says Representation Review Subcommittee Chair, Margaret Shields.

Anyone who wants more information or to engage with the Council early on in the review please see www.gw.govt.nz or phone Greater Wellington.

ENDS

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