Two new Māori ward councillors for Whangārei District

Whangārei councillors discuss the representation changes at the meeting. Photo / Susan Botting

The makeup of Whangārei District's 14-member council will change next year with the introduction of a Māori ward.

This means a new-look Whangārei District Council (WDC) lineup with 11 general ward councillors (down from 13 currently), two Māori ward councillors and a mayor.

The two new Māori ward councillors are part of proposed changes to WDC elected politician makeup, triggered by its November 2020 decision to bring in Māori representation.

The representation review will also change the council's wards structure.

A new single ward will combine two into one in the city's roughly central urban area – with the Denby and Okara wards becoming Whangārei urban general ward.

The new-look council will therefore still have six wards in total - Bream Bay, Hikurangi coastal, Mangākahia Maungatapere, Whangārei Heads and Whangārei urban general wards along with Whangārei District Māori ward.

The two-into-one Whangārei urban ward will bring an almost 30 per cent cut in the number of local general ward councillors. There will be five councillors representing the Denby and Okara wards - roughly Regent, Kensington, Onerahi, Raumunga areas – down from seven.

Councillors Gavin Benney, Tricia Cutforth and Jayne Golightly currently represent Denby. Cutforth has previously indicated she will not be standing in next year's elections.

Councillors Vince Cocurullo, Nick Connop, Phil Halse and Carol Peters represent Okara.

WDC thrashed out which new-look representation model to put out for public consultation in a more than 1.5 hour debate at its June 24 meeting.

Mayor Sheryl Mai wanted reduced councillor numbers and community boards, her position supported by a number of councillors but the model going out for a month's public consultation on Wednesday was finally settled on.

More than three decades of local government history will come to an end with Okara and Denby wards disappearing. These wards were set up in the 1989 local government merging of Whangārei City and Whangārei County councils.

WDC's representation review is also proposing general ward boundary changes. These are centred around the Whangārei urban ward which will expand slightly north-west into Hikurangi coastal ward's north Kamo, west into Mangakahia Maungatapere ward's Maunu and south into Bream Bay ward's Portland. Bream Bay ward will meanwhile extend slightly north into Mangakahia Maungatapere general ward's southern Maunu.

Results from an initial April preliminary informal community survey showed Whangārei residents leant towards a ward system, the establishment of Māori wards, the current ward structure and existing total number of councillors.