Have your say

Final Proposal for Representation Arrangements for the 2022 Local Government Elections

Lodge an appeal

Anyone who made a submission on the Council's initial proposal may lodge an appeal against the Council's decision (set out below). An appeal must relate to the matters raised in your submission. 

Lodge an appeal online(external link)

Lodge an appeal by post. Send to the Chief Executive, Taranaki Regional Council, Private Bag 713, Stratford 4352.

Lodge an appeal by email to haveyoursay@trc.govt.nz.

Your appeal must be received by 5pm on Friday, 29 October 2021.

 

On 24 August 2021, the Taranaki Regional Council (the Council) considered the submissions received on its initial proposal regarding the representation arrangements for the Council’s local government elections to be held on 8 October 2022.

The Council received 14 submissions on its proposal, of which two were in favour, seven were opposed and five were considered as being outside of the representation review process. Five submitters wished to present their submissions and a hearing was held on 24 August 2021.

Key findings from the submissions were:

• a desire for increased Māori representation
• a desire for increased rural representation.

Reasons for the rejection of some submissions were:

• being outside of the representation review process;
• non-compliance with the legislative calculations;
• non-compliance with fair and effective representation criteria.

Final Proposal

Having considered all submissions, the Council resolved on 21 September 2021 to adopt its initial proposal as its final proposal for the Council’s 2022 triennial elections:

The Council will comprise of 11 members, being 10 general members to be elected from four general constituencies and one Māori member to be elected from one region-wide Māori constituency. The five constituencies reflect the following identified communities of interest:

Constituency	Communities of Interest
New Plymouth General	The urban area of the New Plymouth District City Ward
North Taranaki General	The rural area of the New Plymouth District including Okato, Inglewood, Waitara and Urenui townships
Stratford General	The area of the Stratford District Council except for the portion of eastern Stratford District that lies within the Horizons Regional Council region
South Taranaki General	The area of the South Taranaki District
Taranaki Māori	All of the region

The population that each member will represent is as follows.

In accordance with section 19V(2) of the Local Electoral Act 2001, the population that each general member represents must be within the range of 10,998 + 10% (9,898 - 12,098) unless particular community of interest considerations justify otherwise. The representation of the Stratford General Constituency falls outside the stipulated range. The Council considers that the Stratford General Constituency warrants one member for the following reasons:

• the proposed general constituencies reflect the status quo which is well understood and accepted by the regional community.
• the constituency boundaries are closely aligned to the territorial local authority boundaries.
• the territorial authority boundaries align with identified communities of interest within Taranaki.
• the proposed representation is close to complying with the + 10% requirement of the Local Electoral Act 2001.