Ian Mackenzie topped the Environment Canterbury polls for a third-straight election.
Ian Mackenzie topped the Environment Canterbury polls for a third-straight election.
Mid Canterbury/Ōpākihi voters have re-elected incumbents Ian Mackenzie and John Sunckell to the regional council, amid division over the region’s nitrate emergency.
Mackenzie topped the Environment Canterbury polls for a third-straight election with 16,250 votes, with Sunckell on 13,849.
Their margin of victory was closer than the previous elections, withHelen Troy (12,077) and Peter Trolove (10,302) not far behind.
The new council is walking into a nitrate emergency declared by the last council, in a nine-to-seven vote.
In the declaration, ECan committed to urgently addressing the issue of groundwater pollution, which impacted drinking water sources and supplies.
Mackenzie dismissed the declaration as “great politics but a lot of noise and no action”.
He suggested rural voters recognised the council’s existing work to improve water quality.
“When you look at all the things ECan is doing to address water quality, I don’t think [the declaration] has any great reflection on a change in direction.”
The “election stunt” and associated Greenpeace campaign on nitrates got traction in the election in Christchurch, but not outside the city, he said.
“The provincial parts of Canterbury have a better understanding of the work that the regional council has done in terms of its plans and the contribution rural landowners are making towards improving water quality.
“The votes reflect that.”
Selwyn, which Mackenzie described as the “target audience” of the nitrate declaration, and Ashburton district voters re-elected their incumbents.
Mackenzie said this “reflects an understanding of what is going on, what is trying to be achieved, and the willingness of landowners to achieve it”.
He is hoping the new councillors will look to avoid division, “be open-minded and work together to be more constructive than last term”.
Mid Canterbury/Ōpākihi voters have re-elected incumbent John Sunckell to the regional council.
Mackenzie said there is a clear community mandate “to sort out the consenting issues that are frustrating the region”, and that work is going on between the regional council and central government.
Sunckell went a step further, stating that the significant challenge for the term will be RMA changes and the big question around what that will mean for the future of regional councils.
He was also frustrated with the nitrate emergency decision, but said it “provides the opportunity and a platform to really push the data that is coming through”.
“The issue isn’t that we don’t have a nitrate problem.
“The issue is we are addressing it and need to show how that’s going.”
The new council is due to meet on October 29, where the councillors will be sworn in and the new chairperson and deputy chairperson will be elected.
Deon Swiggs, who was re-elected in Christchurch West/Ōpuna, is understood to be the lead candidate to become the new chair after serving as deputy last term.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
