Māori council seats bring cuts to general councillors in Taranaki region

South Taranaki has six possible combinations of councillors out for public feedback after adopting Māori wards. Photo / Bevan Conley

Taranaki Regional Council will have one Māori constituency for next year's election, but South Taranaki will lose a seat as a result.

Regional councillors have voted unanimously for one Māori constituency while keeping councillor numbers at 11.

Population formulas mean South Taranaki will lose a councillor to be left with two, while New Plymouth retains five, North Taranaki two and Stratford one.

Councillors could have boosted their numbers to 13 including two Māori constituencies, with South Taranaki retaining its seats, but rejected that in an earlier workshop.

A full representation review was sparked by the council voting in April to establish a Māori constituency for the 2022 and 2025 elections.

Council chairman David MacLeod said from July 9 there would be public consultation on the representation review, including the number of councillors and the names, number and boundaries of constituencies.

Final decisions would be subject to appeal.

Meanwhile, South Taranaki has six possible combinations of councillors out for public feedback, after it adopted Māori wards last November.

There will be two Māori councillors, elected from either one district-wide ward or two wards divided by a boundary line that puts Hāwera in an eastern ward and Eltham in a western ward.

Making room for the two new Māori ward councillors, the current 12 councillors might be reduced to 11, 10 or eight.

The biggest cut would see all four general wards lose a councillor, leaving just a single representative for Eltham-Kaponga and for Pātea, two for Taranaki Coastal and four for Te Hāwera.

The lightest cut would see just Taranaki Coastal ward lose a councillor.

All options cost the same, as a district's councillor pay pool is decided by the Remuneration Authority then divvied up between however many councillors the district chooses.

Following feedback councillors will choose a single proposal for further public consultation late next month and decide on a final proposal for the Local Government Commission in September.

A spokesperson for New Plymouth District Council said officials were working through the "complicated formula" at the moment, and Stratford District Council said the same.

Councils must put an initial proposal up for submissions by August 31.