Waipā set to add Cambridge councillor
18 September 2018
Waipa District Council is likely to add an additional Cambridge councillor and community board member to comply with the Local Electoral Act.
Today's Finance & Corporate Committee will make the recommendation to the full Council meeting later this month. It follows formal consultation with the wider Waipā community which recommended the change.
Under the proposal there would be five Cambridge ward councillors and four Te Awamutu ward councillors. Two rural wards - Kakepuku and Maungatautari - would continue to have one representative each. The third rural ward, Pirongia, would continue to be represented by two elected members.
There would also be one additional member for the Cambridge community board, making six members in total - five representing Cambridge and one representing Maungatautari.
These were the only changes proposed following a formal review of how well ratepayers and residents are represented.
The other options put to Councillors involved having fewer wards. However, Councillors wanted to retain the existing wards to ensure rural representation was maintained and smaller communities continued to be well represented.
Legally, all councils in New Zealand must review their make-up every six years to ensure representation is fair and effective. Waipā's review has shown that, because of population growth, the Council needs one more councillor and community board member representing Cambridge to comply with the Local Electoral Act.
By law, councillors must represent the same number of people, plus or minus 10%. By adding one more elected member for Cambridge, Waipā councillors would represent between 3,670 and 4,485 people each.
The proposal is likely to be formally adopted by Council on 25 September 2018. If it goes ahead, new representation arrangements will be in place for the 2019 local body elections.