That brings me to the current public engagement process initiated by council to review our representation system. The elected council's role includes being the voice of the people. A voice that represents all the people who use or contribute to the facilities and services provided by council. We have to not only represent but also balance the differing interests of our communities. Our communities are always in transition. That's why every six years we are required by the Local Electoral Act 2001 to review our system of representation. Representation arrangements are to be determined such as to provide fair and effective representation for individuals and communities. The last such review was in 2015.
The review should look at the total number of councillors, whether we should have wards and if so the number, names and boundaries. And the same questions for community boards. Three things to consider in a review include identifying "communities of interests", establishing effective representation like the number of elected members, and finally ensuring fair representation. The latter defines a methodology whereby each elected member should represent about the same number of people with a +/- 10 per cent rule. It's possible to go outside that rule if it can be effectively shown that not to do so will split communities of interest.
The previous review saw Waikanae and Ōtaki outside the 10 per cent rule with Ōtaki at -13 per cent and Waikanae +26 per cent.
While our traditional communities of interest have been defined as Paekākāriki, Raumati, Paraparaumu, Waikanae and Ōtaki there are other potential definitions. If you took the view that our climate change crisis needs our representation system to reflect our ecology then you could promote a catchment-based representation. This could see the Waikanae River catchment which supplies potable water to the populations of Waikanae. Paraparaumu and Raumati (over 40,000 population) have four councillors. Or if you are concerned about climate change and the serious sea-level rise impact on our 1800 coastal properties you could rationalise the need for the creation of a coastal ward with one councillor representative.
Another interesting consideration could be the impact of the expressway and whether the changes in the traffic flow has changed existing communities of interest. These are just a number of ideas and there may be others. The idea is to challenge and test the current assumptions about our communities of interests. The three dimensions for recognising communities of interest include: the perception or the sense of belonging to an area/locality; the functional relating to the ability to meet the community's service requirements; and the political or the ability of the elected body to represent and reconcile the conflicts of all its members.
The review process starts with the early public input phases starting now with council putting out an initial proposal in August followed by a two-month consultation period and hearings with council making its decision on November 11. There is a public right for objections and an appeal process to the Local Government Commission.
