Charlie Anderson running to retain Whanganui council seat

Whanganui councillor Charlie Anderson is seeking a third term at the council table. Photo / Bevan Conley

Charlie Anderson has announced he's seeking a third term at the Whanganui District Council table.

The former pilot and Air Wanganui Commuter chief executive won a council seat in 2013 and retained his position in the 2016 election.

Anderson said he was part of a forward-thinking council and was excited about the future of Whanganui.

"The way the city has grown has been amazing and there are a lot of good projects in the pipeline like the port, but personally the thing I'm most satisfied with is that we finally got the Airport Rd culvert increased after about six years of fighting for it," he said.

"It's been undersized for years and caused a lot of trouble flooding housing and washing the road out, we once had a pilot having to walk through knee-deep water which is totally unsatisfactory."

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Anderson has 40 years' experience as a helicopter pilot but is now semi-retired and spends his time as a director of the NZ International Commercial Pilot Academy and working on his farm.

The councillor plans to keep fighting the possibility of the dog pound being relocated to near the Airport Rd shooting range if re-elected.

"I'm very concerned about that, you can't mix dogs and gunfire together. It's a battle I'm losing at the moment but I'm not going to give up on it, I'll just keep pushing to have that turned over."

Another issue Anderson wants to address is around the focus of local government.

"I do worry sometimes we pick on things that aren't really council's responsibility, we've got issues in town like excessive alcohol, problem gambling, sugar groups and bad diets.

"We're trying to save the world on those issues but you never hear about parental or personal responsibility, and I don't think it's a lone council job to fix those things."

Anderson is also seeking re-election to the Whanganui District Health Board, which the former rescue pilot says he's very passionate about.