Waihi Beach community board to continue

Waihi Beach Community Board will continue after Western Bay of Plenty District Council presented its Representation Review final proposal.

The Council has adopted its final proposal for the review of representation arrangements for the 2019 and 2022 triennial elections.

Council tailored its proposal with a mix of community boards and ward councillor committees.

This means that from next year, Council would have four community boards — Waihi Beach, Katikati, Maketu¯ and Te Puke, and three ward councillor committees — Kaimai, Eastern and Matakana/Rangiwaea Islands.

mokoroa community board will be disestablished, and three ward councillor committees will also be created for areas which are not covered by the community boards, except for mokoroa.

Council says its final proposal follows a comprehensive consultation and engagement process to gain better understanding of the Western Bay community’s views on fair and effective representation, and communities of interest.

The final proposal is:

■ The number of councillors elected from the existing three wards remains unchanged at 11, with the Mayor elected on a District-wide basis.

■ The first-past-the-post voting system is retained.

■ A minor boundary adjustment between the Katikati/Waihi Beach and Kaimai Wards.

■ The Waihi Beach, Maketu¯ and Te Puke community boards retained in their current boundaries.

■ The Katikati Community Board retained in the adjusted boundary.

■ The mokoroa Community Board is disestablished.

Mayor Garry Webber says the decision is the most pragmatic solution that Council could achieve to acknowledge the wishes of all the District’s communities.

“This will satisfy the requests of the majority of submitters and shows that we are happy to go out and talk with our communities, listen and to respond.”

Council’s initial proposal to replace the five existing community boards with three community committees, whose boundaries would match the wards and have a membership of people nominated from the community through an expression of interest-style process, was widely debated in Waihi Beach and district wide.

■ The final proposal will be publicly notified next Tuesday and a one-month appeal/ objection period will take place until November 2. If any appeals or objections are received a final determination will be made by the Local Government Commission by April next year.