Whanganui mayor Andrew Tripe’s 150-day action plan comes to an end, so how did it go?

Andrew Tripe during a recent 'Community Korero' at Majestic Square. Photo / Bevan Conley

When Whanganui mayor Andrew Tripe was elected he announced an action plan for his first 150 days in office - now that time is up.

Mike Tweed talks to Tripe and two councillors about how it’s gone.

The Three Waters reforms and the city’s homelessness issues were at the top of Andrew Tripe’s to-do list when he was elected Whanganui mayor in October, along with strengthening relationships with businesses and making the council more visible to the public.

A motion to join Communities for Local Democracy (C4LD), a coalition of councils proposing an alternative water plan, was put before the Whanganui council in December but was rejected 7-6.

It was voted down by 9-3 in March last year.

“We had a fallback - for me to sign a mayoral declaration, which has now been done. That’s also been done by a critical mass of mayors around the country, including in Auckland and Wellington,” Tripe said.

“Since then, Kieran McAnulty has taken over as the Minister for Local Government, and he has clearly softened his view on the direction of Three Waters. He’s now starting to talk more about a regional language than a centralised one.

“I think the good fight has been worth having.”

To address homelessness, which has resulted in a number of people using the Anzac Parade freedom camping space in recent years, the council has set up a site at 83 Taupō Quay for homeless people.

“I can confidently say a more permanent solution is well in traction,” Tripe said.

“There will be more announcements on that when it’s appropriate.”

Returning councillor Josh Chandulal-Mackay publicly supported former mayor Hamish McDouall’s re-election bid, and although he was disappointed by the result of last year’s election, he said he made it clear to Tripe early on that he would work with him positively and constructively if Tripe was successful.

“I have to say, I was really impressed by Andrew’s inclusivity in forming the governance structure for the new term,” Chandulal-Mackay said.

“Given that he [came] into the role having not been on council previously, I think that was a really good move. There was the potential for a split, in terms of the councillors who supported Hamish versus those that supported Andrew. He [Tripe] did really well to make sure that didn’t happen.”

Whanganui District Councillor Josh Chandulal-Mackay. Photo / Bevan Conley

Deputy mayor Helen Craig said Tripe had surpassed her expectations so far.

“He doesn’t muck around. We can talk about anything and to me, that’s really important.

“It’s smooth from a point of view of having a great mayor, great councillors and a great CEO [David Langford], but in terms of how much we’re having to deal with, it’s getting pretty tough.”

“Community Korero” sessions with Tripe and district councillors kicked off last month.

When the Chronicle visited, numbers were thin on the ground.

Tripe said while there was only a “small splattering of people” at the Majestic Square meeting, around 100 people attended over the five sites.

“Obviously, that’s not many, but they will take the message out to others.

“This is the first time we’ve had them and they were well received. We are going to have more in November.”

Terms of reference for mayoral forums on social services and businesses had been drafted, Tripe said, adding a small group of people would take part in them.

From a business perspective, he had talked to Whanganui & Partners and the Whanganui Chamber of Commerce to make sure there was no conflict with what they were doing.

“There was unanimous agreement that they [mayoral forums] need to happen, so they will happen,” he said.

“In terms of social services, I’ve talked to a few leaders in our district and there is an agreement. Again, we don’t want to tread on the toes of initiatives that are already in place. We need to complement them.”

Helen Craig says Tripe has surpassed her expectations. Photo / Bevan Conley

Chandulal-Mackay said Tripe would acknowledge that he still had some work to do on learning the internal functions of the council.

“That’s unsurprising for someone who hasn’t previously been an elected member.

“On the whole, I’m fairly impressed with the culture of the elected council and his place in that.

“I’m not one to hold a grudge based on the outcome of an election. That’s politics, that’s democracy, and any council should be able to function well regardless of that outcome.”

During his election campaign, Tripe spoke about Whanganui potentially hosting the Commonwealth Games alongside neighbouring districts across the central North Island.

That was off the table for now but a Youth Commonwealth Games wasn’t.

He said there had been some initial interest from Commonwealth Games Federation president Dame Louise Martin to host a youth games “in this part of the world”.

“The patron of the games is Prince Edward, who was my house tutor at [Whanganui Collegiate] school.

“He hasn’t been invited back to Whanganui so there’s a lot there that we can work on.”

Craig said everybody wanted to meet the mayor, whether they had an idea or a complaint, and Tripe had “absolutely tried” to meet them all.

“It’s a huge commitment. I don’t think he ever sleeps at the moment. He really wants to deliver for the community and I take my hat off to him.”