Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Media boss makes pitch for mayoralty

By Laurel Stowell
Whanganui Chronicle·
19 May, 2016 08:18 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

NEW VENTURE: Andy Jarden leaves the newspaper business this week. PHOTO/ STUART MUNRO

NEW VENTURE: Andy Jarden leaves the newspaper business this week. PHOTO/ STUART MUNRO

General manager Andy Jarden is leaving the Wanganui Chronicle to spend the next four months campaigning hard to become the district's mayor.

He finishes his time at the newspaper today, and said he decided to stand for mayor a month ago.

It was not the first time he has thought about it, though - six years ago his late wife Marie encouraged him to stand and he intends to do her proud.

He did not want to leave the newspaper business then but is ready to now. His employer, NZME, is going through major changes, and operations in Whanganui are increasingly being run from Auckland.

His job was gone, and he was encouraged to stay and apply for other roles but decided to take voluntary redundancy.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The thrust of Mr Jarden's campaign will be affordability - he said Whanganui needed growth and jobs, and its rates had increased at three times the rate of inflation.

"We need people with business and financial acumen, combined with a real vision to grow Whanganui. This means providing appropriate infrastructure, business environment, and incentives to attract new business and jobs."

The current council had poor financial controls and had taken its eye off business, he said. The downsizing of Cavalier Spinners was one example.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Cavalier laid off eight people almost a year ago - anyone with their eyes half open would know they were in trouble."

If the council had been speaking to them, all the company's jobs could have been consolidated in Whanganui, he said.

"These are the sort of things where the council has been failing business."

The city's image had improved under the current council, but more needed to be done to make it attractive to families.

The handling of the wastewater treatment system problem had been "disgraceful", he said.

"My own view is that clearly there were design faults, but there's also been reports that council staff didn't operate the treatment plant correctly. But how would we know? We're four years on and there has been no internal inquiry - that's disgraceful and would never happen in private business."

Mr Jarden has been a resident, a businessman and a part-time farmer in Whanganui for 29 years. He considers he is well qualified to represent people from all those fields, and has been encouraged to stand, especially by business people.

He needed to raise his profile, though, because the competition was strong.

"I'm probably not the favoured candidate right now."

But he said councillors Hamish McDouall and Helen Craig both had links to political parties, and he was an independent. He's leased out his 40-ha farm until October and intends to give the campaign his all for the next four-and-a-half months - newspaper and radio advertising, pamphlets, door-knocking and signwriting on his silver Cadillac.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Leaving the Chronicle was sad, but he said he was leaving it in a good state, as Richie McCaw had left the All Blacks.

"I support the changes - they are all positive. I'm leaving at a time when things are going really well.

"The Chronicle's circulation and readership are holding up well and our website is number one in Whanganui.

"I'm confident the Chronicle will still be around in another 150 years - but it won't be printed on paper."

NZME Local Network manager Chris Jagusch said Mr Jarden had been a fantastic manager for the business in all respects over the past 30 years.

"We are very proud of his achievements," Mr Jagusch said. "His aspirations for the Whanganui mayoralty were made known to us some time ago, and we are pleased for Andy that he is able to take up this opportunity."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

'Easy option': Airport users unhappy with proposal to shut runways

13 Jul 06:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

'What residents deserve': Water trial treatment plant to be set up in Marton

13 Jul 05:15 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

‘A win-win’: Forestry company gifts venison to food bank

13 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

'Easy option': Airport users unhappy with proposal to shut runways

'Easy option': Airport users unhappy with proposal to shut runways

13 Jul 06:00 PM

'Basically, on a windy day, there won’t be any training.'

'What residents deserve': Water trial treatment plant to be set up in Marton

'What residents deserve': Water trial treatment plant to be set up in Marton

13 Jul 05:15 PM
‘A win-win’: Forestry company gifts venison to food bank

‘A win-win’: Forestry company gifts venison to food bank

13 Jul 05:00 PM
RSA 'alive and well' despite premises closure

RSA 'alive and well' despite premises closure

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP