Council wants feedback on representation
Kāpiti Coast District Council is seeking feedback to help inform future representation arrangements after the decision to establish a Māori ward was made last year.
Mayor Janet Holborow said the council completed a comprehensive review of its representation arrangements in 2021 and wasn’t due for another review until 2027.
“Council’s decision to establish a Māori ward was made before the new Government signalling they propose to bring back polls for Māori wards, including requiring a vote on any wards set up without a poll at the next local elections.
“It’s currently unclear how this commitment will be implemented and in what timeframe. We must follow current legalisation, which is to run a representation review this year for the Māori ward to be in place for the 2025 local government elections.”
Holborow said the council has recently undertaken a representation review, and aimed to keep this review as streamlined and low-cost as possible while ensuring the community has an opportunity to be engaged in the process.
“In Kāpiti, we currently have four general wards with seven elected councillors and three district-wide councillors elected by voters across the district. In total this equates to 10 councillors. We also have one mayor and five community boards.
“We’re now checking to see if we have the right number of councillors and if they should be elected from wards, district-wide, or a combination of both if we have the right ward boundaries, and how the new Māori ward could fit into the arrangements.”
She said the number of people enrolled on the Māori electoral roll compared to the district’s general electoral population indicates it’s likely only one Māori ward, encompassing the whole of Kāpiti, will be set up.
“We haven’t decided how the Mā ori ward and its new Māori ward councillor will be incorporated into our representation arrangements. However, as part of this early engagement process, we’ve provided three concepts for people to consider. Working with manawhenua, we’d like to hear what concept people would prefer or if another concept would work best.”