Commission approves new Council representation structure

A long-awaited decision on how the Waipā district will be represented following the 2022 Local Government Election was released by the Local Government Commission today.

The Local Government Commission determination was required after one appeal was received on the Waipā District Council’s final proposal for its 2021 Representation Review. The appeal sought disestablishment of both Te Awamutu and Cambridge Community Boards.

The objector cited his concerns about the process followed by Council to determine representation, how accurately community boards represented their communities, their expense and resident perception of the board’s performance.

As part of the review, the Commission assessed all aspects of Councils elected member structure, not solely that of the appeal process, and found that these meet requirements under the Local Electoral Act (2001).

Based on the evidence supplied by Council on the process undertaken for the representation review, the Commission’s determination upheld Council’s final 2021 Representation Review decision which would change the current five ward structure to four wards, representing the district’s communities of interest as follows:

• Cambridge town
• Te Awamutu town
• Rural areas that use Cambridge as a service centre
• Rural areas that use Te Awamutu as a service centre.

Council’s deputy Chief Executive and Group Manager Business Support Ken Morris said getting the result of the Commissions determination meant the community would be voting in the upcoming local body elections for an elected member strucutre which provided effective representation across the district.

“The Commission commended Waipā District Council for its decision to undertake a review of the role and functions of community boards in response to the concerns raised by the community, which was pleasing. We were also very pleased to see the Commissions support for our updated ward structure, which we believe provides effective representation of our communities of interest and fair representation for electors,” Morris said.

The Commission noted the advocacy role of the Boards on a number of relativey large-scale projects and the awards won by the Cambridge Community Board.

Following on from the determination, representation arrangements for the October 2022 local body elections will be as follows:

• Four Councillors for Cambridge Ward and a boundary change in the Fencourt and Hautapu areas;
• Three Councillors for Te Awamutu and Kihikihi Ward and a small boundary change in the Paterangi/Ngaroto Road area;
• Two Councillors in the newly combined Pirongia and Kakepuku Ward and boundary changes in the Paterangi/Ngaroto Road and Kaipaki areas;
• One Councillor for the Maungatautari Ward and a boundary change to extend the ward to include Kaipaki and reflect the changes to the Cambridge Ward boundary.

Changes to the Community Board structure will be as follows:

• Te Awamutu Community Board will be renamed the Te Awamutu and Kihikihi Community Board, and will maintain the same number of elected members from the same areas (reflecting the small boundary change in the Paterangi/Ngaroto Road area);
• Cambridge Community Board will reduce by one member, comprising of four in the Cambridge and one in Maungatautari subdivision. Changes proposed for the ward boundaries will also be reflected in the subdivision boundaries.

These changes will be in effect for the 2022 local elections, which will be held on 8 October 2022.

Read more about the new representation structure and the Local Government Commission’s determination here.