Cotton and Patrick win regional council seats

David Cotton is back on Horizons Regional Council.

David Cotton and Nicola Patrick will be Whanganui's representatives on Horizons Regional Council.

Mr Cotton, a rural real estate agent who has been on the council since 2013, was the highest polling candidate for the Whanganui constituency with 8823 votes.

Ms Patrick, a Green Party member and Chronicle columnist, collected 7635 votes on her first attempt at running for the council. The mother of two has worked for the Department of Conservation and engineering company AECOM.

The other candidates for Horizons' Whanganui constituency, Jeremy Austin and Allan Wrigglesworth, received 6801 and 4846 votes respectively.

Both Mr Cotton and Mr Austin, a Fordell farmer, were campaigning under the Rate Restraint banner, while Mr Wrigglesworth had been vocal about Whanganui's wastewater treatment situation.

Meanwhile, Bruce Rollinson has been re-elected to the regional council, beating the only other candidate for the Ruapehu constituency, John Chapman, with 1928 votes to Mr Chapman's 825.