Out-of-town ‘influence’ at ratepayer expense

Wellington’s ratepayers are paying for a social media influencer to corral under-35s into engaging with the city council.

Lucy Revill, who writes The Residents blog, is being paid from ratepayer funds to drum up feedback from younger people on a Wellington City Council plan that explores issues such as densifying neighbourhoods and removing restrictions on character homes to accommodate an extra 80,000 people in the city.

‘‘We’re not going to detail exactly how much we’re paying Lucy – but we can confirm it is very low in the scheme of things,’’ John McSweeney, the council’s place planning manager, said.

More than 11,000 people, mostly 24-34-year-olds, follow Revill’s Instagram account. She has created more than 1100 posts on the platform.

McSweeney said the council was looking for someone who had a large social media reach with young people, lived in Wellington and had a genuine interest in Wellington-related topics and issues.

But in a recent 1900-word blog post called We’re Residents of Greytown!, Revill announced she had been living in Greytown, 70km outside of Wellington, since the middle of March.

Despite having moved out of Wellington recently, Revill had maintained a large following within the city, the council said.

Speaking to Stuff, Revill said she still lived ‘‘part time’’ in Wellington city. Although she had moved to Greytown, and often commuted from there, her parents lived in central Wellington and she often stayed at their apartment.