Business needs councillor's time

Jason Granville

Juggling a new business and council business has proved a bridge too far for Jason Granville who is not seeking re-election to Whanganui's district council.

Mr Granville won the district council by-election convincingly on July 19, 2014, taking the seat vacated by Michael Laws in April. His 5630 votes put him more than 3000 votes ahead of Graham Adams in second place.

He missed out on a council seat by just 77 votes at the local government elections in October 2013.

But he said trying to manage both his council time and his fledgling business proved to be the tipping point.

"I'm the sort of person who commits to something 100 per cent but I found it impossible to give that sort of effort to both council and our business at the same time," he said.

"If I can't sink my teeth into something completely then I shouldn't be doing it."

Within a fortnight of winning the by-election Mr Granville finished his job as the breakfast host at MoreFM after five years, and he and his good mate Jimmy Elliott took over as new owners of Take It Easy Tours.

"To say it's been a challenging two years for me is an understatement. Everything happened at once."

He said he had enjoyed his time on council, describing it as both interesting and frustrating at the same time.

"It would be fair to say it was a much different environment than what I was used to."

While the business remains his focus Mr Granville has not discounted getting involved in local body politics a few years down the track.

"I'm only 33 and in another 10 years things may be different with our business so I might have more time," he said.