A decision on changes to the Rotorua Lakes Council's representation arrangements for the next six years should be made in the coming weeks.
Five appeals were lodged against the council's representation review decisions agreed to by councillors in December last year.
At the time the council agreed to reduce the number of councillors from 12 to 10, retain the "at large" voting system, retain the Lakes Community Board - with the addition of Hamurana - and establish a second community board to represent the rural sector.
Rotorua residents had a month to appeal the decision to the Local Government Commission.
Appealing the decision at a hearing in the council chamber yesterday were the Rotorua Lakes Community Board, Federated Farmers, the Rotorua District Residents and Ratepayers group, and residents Allan Estcourt and Stewart Graham.