Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Waihi Beach, Maketu wards cut in revamp

By John Cousins
Bay of Plenty Times·
20 Aug, 2012 09:50 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Waihi Beach and Maketu residents have lost the first round of the battle to retain their electoral independence on the Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

The council yesterday decided to reduce the number of electoral wards from five to three by merging Maketu Ward into a new Te Puke-focused Eastern Ward and Waihi Beach into a new Katikati-focused Western Ward.

Kaimai Ward remains unchanged except to be renamed the Central Ward.

The vote was won 8-4, with councillors Anne Gilmer, Kevin Marsh, Norm Mayo and Paul Thomas opposed.

Councillor Don Thwaites (Kaimai) was on leave of absence.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Yesterday's decision was likely to result in appeals to the final arbiter of representation, the Local Government Commission.

In the other major decision, the council dropped its controversial recommendation to axe the number of councillors from 12 to eight.

After nearly a day and a half of public submissions on its proposed electoral reforms, the council opted to have an 11-member council - dropping one representative.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The lost seat was at the expense of the low-growth eastern end of the district based on Te Puke. The Maketu and Te Puke wards are currently represented by a total of five councillors.

The vote on the size of the council was won 8-4, with councillors Maureen Burgess, Kevin Marsh, Mike Pittar and Paul Thomas opposed.

Strong community opposition to three wards and a much smaller eight-member council emerged from the public response to the council's representation review. Waihi Beach and Maketu residents feared their distinct communities of interest would lose their voice to the greater voting strength in the population strongholds of Te Puke and Katikati.

The council decided 8-3 to stick with the current structure of five community boards. The boards, which cost ratepayers $600,000 a year, were Maketu, Te Puke, Omokoroa, Katikati and Waihi Beach.

The council opted to strengthen its appointees on each board by adding a second councillor.

Mayor Ross Paterson said the main driver behind the council's decision to have 11 councillors instead of 12 was because it resulted in fairer representation.

If numbers of the Eastern Ward had been boosted to four councillors, the area would have been over-represented.

Cr Gilmer (Waihi Beach) said she struggled with the beach becoming part of the Katikati.

But Cr Garry Webber (Kaimai) said the communities of interest were pretty well developed, with the focus on Te Puke and Katikati for the eastern and western sides of the district, whereas Tauranga was where a lot of the Kaimai Ward residents went.

"The Kaimai Ward was basically based on Tauranga because we do not have the assets," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Cr Marsh highlighted how the Arawa Trust was planning a 350-section development at Maketu, saying Maketu had different people and different needs.

"I know where this will end up," he said in a strong hint that the decision would be appealed to the Local Government Commission if the council went with the Eastern Ward. "Maori people know what they want, and that is not going to change."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

03 Jul 08:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Oh hell, yeah': Pensioner moves from leaky caravan to new elder village

03 Jul 07:32 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

02 Jul 09:19 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

03 Jul 08:00 AM

After nearly three weeks of evidence, counsel have begun delivering closing statements.

'Oh hell, yeah': Pensioner moves from leaky caravan to new elder village

'Oh hell, yeah': Pensioner moves from leaky caravan to new elder village

03 Jul 07:32 AM
Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

02 Jul 09:19 PM
'Scary stuff': Locals on crash corner fear it will take a death to get it fixed

'Scary stuff': Locals on crash corner fear it will take a death to get it fixed

02 Jul 09:11 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP