Communication key for council candidate

UP FOR IT: Allan Wrigglesworth wants to represent Whanganui on Horizons Regional Council. Wanganui Chronicle photograph by Bevan Conley.

His science background could be helpful in communicating Horizons Regional Council's activities more clearly to voters, Allan Wrigglesworth says.

He's standing for Horizons for a third time, this time competing with three others for two Whanganui seats. He said he was passionate about the environment but also aware that people have to make a living.

"We live in an imperfect world and we've just got to continually balance business interests with what we do to the surroundings. I don't know if that means I'm a greenie or not."

For the last two years he has been vocal about Whanganui's wastewater treatment situation, and he has spoken out about coastal issues in the past. But he said his experience on Aranui School's board of trustees has taught him the difference between governance and management.

"I just want to stand back from that particular debate. I'd like to take a more constructive role."

He said Horizons needs a mix of councillors, and they shouldn't all be farmers.

Mr Wrigglesworth has four children, has had his own small business and is now a full-time maths and science teacher at Whanganui High School. He believes he can use his "more approachable" language to inform people about what happens in the environment.

He said Horizons let the community down by staying silent about Whanganui's wastewater scheme in 2009-10, when monitoring showed there were problems.

New Zealand's water quality is poor in many places and he doesn't think the public realises the consequences of certain land uses.

"I think people have forgotten that everything is linked to everything else."

Mr Wrigglesworth has had lots of experience with water quality, having been on wastewater working parties with Whanganui District Council officers from 1990 to 2004 and spent a summer monitoring central North Island rivers and streams for the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa).

He'd like to keep regional council rates at a moderate level, explain land use and water quality issues to the public and also take public grievances back up to the council table.

He's withholding judgement on Horizons' implementation of the One Plan until he knows the facts, and doesn't think economic development should be one of the council's core activities.