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

Nominations still trickling in for Bay local body elections

By Allison Hess
Junior reporter - digital·Bay of Plenty Times·
11 Aug, 2016 10:29 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

Tauranga City Council hopeful Sheldon Nesdale has knocked on over 4000 doors in his potential ward. PHOTO/GEORGE NOVAK

Tauranga City Council hopeful Sheldon Nesdale has knocked on over 4000 doors in his potential ward. PHOTO/GEORGE NOVAK

Nominations have been trickling in for local body elections, which close today at midday.

Candidates for Tauranga City Council, Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Bay of Plenty District Health Board have had a month to get their official nominations in before voting kicks off in October.

As at yesterday evening, eight nominations were in for Tauranga city mayor and three nominations for Western Bay of Plenty mayor.

Candidates officially nominated for Tauranga mayor were Graeme Purches, Noel James Peterson, Kelvin Clout, Larry Baldock, Greg Brownless, Max Mason, Steve Morris and Doug Owens.

Western Bay of Plenty mayoral candidates nominated as at last night were Garry Webber, Don Thwaites and Gwendalyn Merriman.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Tauranga City Council spokeswoman Aimee Driscoll said nominations to stand had been slow to come in.

As at yesterday evening there were 17 nominations for seats on Tauranga City Council, excluding the mayor. This compares to 31 total nominees in 2013.

There was still the potential for a flurry of nominations submitted before deadline today.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ms Driscoll said if there were the same number of candidates as vacancies in a ward then the candidates were declared elected unopposed and no election was required.

She warned incorrect and late nominations would not be accepted after midday today.

Participation in local elections has been slowly declining across New Zealand.

The percentage of eligible voters in Tauranga that voted in the 2013 city council elections was approximately 37.77 per cent, less than the 43.64 per cent in 2010, and 46.36 per cent in 2007.

The voter turn-out for the whole Bay of Plenty region in 2013 was 38 per cent.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council had 14 nominations in as of last night, for a total of 11 seats available.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council had eight nominations in last night for eight available seats.

Two people had been nominated for the health board, which has seven seats.

4000 doors knocked on

One candidate has knocked on more than 4000 homes in the Otumoetai-Pyes Pa ward he hoped to be elected in.

Tauranga City Council candidate Sheldon Nesdale had visited 4291 homes, almost one third of the 15,356 total households in the Outmoetai-Pyes Pa council ward.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I've spoken face-to-face with 1254 residents... it wasn't a hard slog at all, it was a lot of fun."

Mr Nesdale said the idea came from talks with past and present councillors and mayors from around New Zealand, who suggested it was a good idea.

"I realised what a great opportunity it was to find out what was on people's minds, what their ideas and concerns were.

"People appreciated I was taking the time out to knock on their door and ask them their ideas for the city, they were amazed someone was taking such an interest," Mr Nesdale said.

It changed a lot of his own ideas and a common thread for residents was council's debt and the importance of value for money.

"To sum my whole experience up, I think people just want to see value for money. Every dollar we send to council should get spent on a project that will benefit us all."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Nesdale jotted notes and travel details in a journal, which shows he had spent a total of 98 hours and travelled 369 by scooter or bicycle in the past three months while visiting homes in Matua, Otumoetai, Pillans Point, Bellevue, Brookfield, Judea, Bethlehem, the Lakes and Pyes Pa.

Mr Nesdale said he would keep going, though he had already reached his goal of 4000 homes.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'Knew he was gone': Truck driver describes cyclist he'd hit lying on ground

01 Jul 07:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Customs seizes 150kg of cocaine bricks marked 'good luck' in Tauranga

01 Jul 05:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Zespri teams up with Dame Lisa Carrington

01 Jul 03:30 AM

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

'Knew he was gone': Truck driver describes cyclist he'd hit lying on ground

'Knew he was gone': Truck driver describes cyclist he'd hit lying on ground

01 Jul 07:00 AM

A judge says the truck driver wasn't at fault, as the road markings lacked clarity.

Customs seizes 150kg of cocaine bricks marked 'good luck' in Tauranga

Customs seizes 150kg of cocaine bricks marked 'good luck' in Tauranga

01 Jul 05:00 AM
Zespri teams up with Dame Lisa Carrington

Zespri teams up with Dame Lisa Carrington

01 Jul 03:30 AM
Pedestrian hit by car in Tauranga

Pedestrian hit by car in Tauranga

01 Jul 12:10 AM
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