Peter Glensor’s qualifications as a politician are entirely based in the community sector. He gave up politics to go back into the sector, and now wants to return to local government. Why?

Peter’s work as an aid and development worker, a Church minister, a community worker and community health service manager led him to get involved in local government in 1995 – when he became a Hutt City Councillor.

As a community worker he watched with impatience how local government has a lot of resources, heaps of political power, but seemed so unwilling to really share power with community groups. His time as a city councillor was marked by building strong alliances with community groups throughout the city.

Peter chaired a national body ANGOA – linking national NGOs, and pressing the central government in 2002 to sign a commitment to build better relationships with the sector. He then co-chaired the Community Sector Taskforce, using a Treaty relationships model to bring NGOs together.

Peter’s work got him into health politics – joining the Hutt Valley DHB in 2000, then being elected 4 times to the Board – Chairing it for 7 years. Again – links with community groups was his theme – and the HVDHB gained a strong reputation for innovation, for strong community links and engagement.

From 2004 he was a Regional Councillor, chairing the work on public transport, on flood management and on economic development. Peter made sure that local disability groups, transport lobby groups, Maori and ethnic groups, and communities were always invited to give their ideas and their input. He led a series of public meetings to explore the complexity and costs of Public Transport – and gained strong support for a huge upgrade of the Wellington rail network – new trains, upgraded tracks and stations, improved timetables and real-time information for travellers.

Standing down in 2013, he thought his work with local government was done. So, he returned to the community sector, spending three years talking about then forming a new national body to link, strengthen and promote the whole community sector – Hui E! Community Aotearoa. Hui E! has taken on the chairing of community responses to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

But a massive loss of public confidence in the Wellington bus network has broken out – threatening the goodwill so painstakingly built up over years. And the latest challenge is Climate Change – the science is clear – the world’s climate is already dramatically changing, because of human activity causing a massive increase in greenhouse gases. The world has only a short time to make changes to limit the rate and size of change – and everyone needs to respond to this crisis – especially central and local governments. So – Peter Glensor is back – offering his unique community experience so local communities can genuinely engage in the serious work of reducing greenhouse gases, preparing for the impacts of climate change, and doing things differently.

“For me, my whole life I’ve worked in collaboration with local communities. It’s how I do things,” said Peter. “But I now realise not everyone knows how to do it – or even why it’s important.”

“True community engagement isn’t always easy – it involves sharing power and resources, and taking on the priorities of others. But I’ve seen that it works.”

Already, hundreds who know Peter have shown their support for a representative who has such a strong history – October will see whether the people of Lower Hutt share that confidence.

© Scoop Media