Beret-wearing battler was a voice for the underdog
Bryan Pepperell City councillor b October 15, 1952 d August 2, 2018
Bryan Pepperell was built for combat – a trait that served him well batting for the underdog over almost two decades as a city councillor.
For years he was the Wellington City Council’s toughest critic, haranguing its representatives through a lobby group he cofounded, as well as countless letters to the editor, till finally he decided the best way to make himself heard was to join them.
When he won the Wellington South council seat by 46 votes in a 1996 by-election, councillors who barely tolerated his repeated barrages during public participation time at meetings found themselves having to work with their nemesis.
He was elected into council at the height of neo-liberal economics, which he despised, and quickly became the voice of the poor and the dispossessed.
The beret-wearing public watchdog was known for challenging the council on its transparency, and fought a long crusade against secrecy that led him to many a showdown with his colleagues.
Not content with merely verbalising his views, Pepperell once donned a plastic pig’s nose at a meeting, and did press-ups on his knuckles to make a point.
He was opposed to waste and inequity. On one occasion, he was so incensed by a huge rise for the chief executive, voted for by councillors, that he took the unusual step of writing to the minister for local government and asking him to take it back.
He always regarded himself as non-materialistic, living simply within his means and trying to help others when he could. He believed local authorities should do the same.
He put his money where his mouth was in 2001 when running for the mayoralty, which he did unsuccessfully six times, promising he would divide his own salary among councillors and ask committee chairmen to forfeit their extra salaries so the total could be redistributed to every councillor to encourage collective effort and responsibility.
He always campaigned on a platform of greater openness and inclusiveness, drawing attention to the frequency with which Wellington City Council excluded the public from discussions on such issues as the Owhiro Bay quarry, the council’s involvement in the proposed Karori Sanctuary, and the purchase of the State Opera House by the council-backed St James Theatre Trust.
Pepperell’s bugbear was the contracting out of council services, and he questioned relentlessly the spending of ratepayers’ money.
Much to the chagrin of the sitting mayor and many councillors over the years, he had a propensity for leaking information to the news media and exposing what he saw as wasteful use of public money or abuse of the democratic process.
He earned the wrath of many of his fellow councillors when he copied a report written by a law student damning the council’s decision-making in secret. Despite saying he obtained the report honestly, he was rounded upon by mayor Mark Blumsky and several Left-wing councillors, who accused him of riffling through an employee’s drawers to get it – a claim Pepperell claimed was ‘‘rubbish and scurrilous’’.
Pepperell, who described himself as ‘‘a fiscal conservative with a social conscience’’, had a sincere belief in democratic government and a commitment to transparency and the people who elected him.
His manner and style earned him many detractors, but he wasn’t short of supporters.
Former councillor Sue Kedgley said Pepperell represented a very strong cross-section of the community, and some of the concerns people had with him were because of the shift in the balance of power to the Left.
His approach on the council has been described variously as combative, hostile, a fly-in-theointment style. But Pepperell was not bothered by the conflicts with colleagues.
‘‘I was built for combat. In another age I would have been a warrior. I am relaxed about it. I love all these people,’’ he once said.
Born in Upper Hutt, Bryan Pepperell was the second of seven children, and was raised there and in Pukerua Bay.
His father worked in engineering and later became a photographer. His grandmother’s botanic interests and love of helping people, and his father’s involvement in the Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation League, were traits that would rub off on Pepperell in the years to come.
As a teenager he spent as much time in the Tararua bush as he did at Ka¯ piti College, where he got into trouble for wagging, fighting and wearing his hair too long.
He was eventually asked by the headmaster to leave and, at 15, he obliged.
He tried his hand at all manner of jobs, working as a panelbeater, automotive engineer, and a stint in the freezing works. His unusual claim to fame was being New Zealand’s youngest real estate agent, aged 18.
He roamed the country spending time at a commune up the Whanganui River in the remote rural settlement of Jerusalem in 1969 with James K Baxter.
In 1975 he met and married Penny, with whom he went on to have three children.
Together they went travelling, ending up in Switzerland, where he studied under Protestant theologian Francis Schaeffer. Pepperell was a literal Bible believer, and the pursuit of his beliefs in this area was a lifelong endeavour.
Back in New Zealand at 23, he sought special admission to Victoria University, qualified for an A bursary after a year, and went on to complete a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy and religious studies, and a diploma of criminology.
He wasn’t cut out to work for other people and, for almost a decade from the late 1970s, he ran a property maintenance and management company, employing up to 18 people, including many on the fringes of society.
In 1993 he co-founded the tiny but vocal Citywatch, a ratepayer lobby group calling for greater transparency and more accountability from the council. It was formed after he and city councillor Jack Ruben discovered each other through their frequent letters to The Evening Post.
Pepperell served on the council until 2013. He had a history of activism on local issues, including campaigning against raw sewage discharge at Moa Point and organising the successful legal challenge to the big rates hike for suburban businesses.
He also promoted the concept of a council allotment.
He was a strong advocate for public transport and cycling, and was proud of putting environmental issues and peak oil on the council agenda. In fact, he managed to mention peak oil in most speeches he made on council.
After his long stint in local politics, Pepperell retreated to his hobbies – mainly motorcycling and photography.
He is survived by wife Penny, children Martyn, Justine and Reuben, and siblings Lyn, Joy, David, Murray, Ian and John. – By Bess Manson
Sources: Pepperell family, The Dominion Post, The Evening Post, Sue Kedgley.