ORC proposing extra councillor at Dunedin's expense

The Otago Regional Council has held today's full council meeting in a pop-up council chambers at The Gate in Cromwell as it considers an extra seat for the rapidly growing area around its decision making table.

While not on the meeting agenda, the council is reviewing the way communities across the region are represented and is mooting adding an extra councillor from the Dunstan constituency at the expense of Dunedin.

The Dunstan constituency includes the towns of Queenstown, Wānaka and Cromwell, and for now it is represented by three councillors - Queenstown-based Alexa Forbes, Cromwell-based Michael Laws, and Springvale farmer Gary Kelliher.

Members of the public are being invited to submit on a proposal by the council to increase that to four councillors, in time for next year's local government elections.

The plan is to keep the total number of councillors at 12, so the move will decrease Dunedin's representation by one, from six to five councillors.

In a written statement announcing the opening of the window of time for public submissions on the proposal, the council says it is a response to "significant growth in Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes".

Table (Supplied/ORC).

The council's aim is for fair representation of electors to ensure that each councillor represents roughly the same number of people, it says.

Submissions will be accepted until August 11 and can be made either online at www.orc.govt.nz/RepReview24 or in person at the council's Queenstown office in Alta House at 1092 Frankton Road.

The last representation review for the council was completed in 2018, when no changes were made to the existing constituencies or number of councillors.

Speaking with Crux today, Councillor Forbes says the latest review is an important one for residents of the Dunstan constituency, while Councillor Kelliher says he would welcome another local voice on the council to help argue Dunstan's case during decision making.

"I am very supportive of that, especially as it's proposed to reduce Dunedin reps from six to five," he says.

Meanwhile Councillor Laws has long been vocal on his view the current council set-up is too Dunedin-centric.

While he too welcomes additional representation, he told Crux last month an extra councillor at next year's election is "too late to derail the dreadful cost-plus mentality that exists at ORC HQ".

At the meeting in Cromwell the council also noted a decision in June by the Remuneration Authority to deliver councillors an average pay rise of 3.7 percent, starting this month.

The bump puts ORC chair Gretchen Robertson on a little more than $158,000, while councillors with no additional responsibilities are on a little more than $67,400.

While Councillor Forbes was in Cromwell for the meeting, Councillor Kelliher took part remotely, telling those in attendance "shearing is keeping him close to the woodshed at the moment", and Councillor Laws was an apology due to his involvement in a tangi.

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton was also in attendance in Cromwell, presenting to councillors his 'Going with the Grain' report, which argues changes land use are needed in order to "hold the line on environmental quality, let alone improve it".

In it, Mr Upton sets out the multiple environmental problems facing rural New Zealand and makes suggestions on how to approach the land use change needed to prevent further degradation. 

He argues in the report's introduction "we need to change the way we use the land if we are to hold the line on environmental quality, let alone improve it".

Introducing the meeting, Councillor Robertson endorsed the council taking to the road, welcoming local participants presenting in the public forum, acknowledging Central Otago District Mayor Tim Cadogan's attendance, and commenting on it being "fantastic to be in Central Otago where the sun is streaming".

Tomorrow councillors will be doing something of a local field trip, with Councillor Robertson saying they'll be checking out "terrestrial and aquatic challenges and successes in the area".

Main image: Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton presents to the Otago Regional Council at a meeting in Cromwell, Wednesday, July 24, 2024.