Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe announces re-election bid

Andrew Tripe says it was an easy decision to stand for mayor again this year.

Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe says the district has positive momentum and he wants to keep it going for another three years.

He has announced his bid for re-election in October, with a promise to keep rates increases low, not just in 2025/26.

Whanganui ratepayers will have an average 2.2% rates rise for the next 12 months, which Tripe said was the lowest in the country.

The first-term mayor won the 2022 election convincingly, beating incumbent Hamish McDouall by more than 2000 votes.

He said running for re-election this year was an easy decision.

“First of all, I have the support of my wife Carolyn [Nicklin], my family, and a large proportion of the community are encouraging me to continue.

“Whanganui is in a really good place, and has a future we can be excited about. That’s because we’ve done the hard yards.”

Tripe said the council’s six-point plan, announced in December 2023, helped deliver the low rates increase.

The plan includes finding non-rates revenue, improving council efficiency and increasing the ratepayer base.

“This doesn’t mean we do less, either,” he said.

“For the coming year, we have an 11% increase on our infrastructure spend, and 82% of our capital spend in our long-term plan [2024-34] is in infrastructure - roading, water, parks and reserves.

“It’s doing the basics. If you don’t do them, it comes back to bite you.”

Tripe said one of his focus areas was “funding for our future”.

“During this term, I’ve talked about having a Whanganui investment fund to offset future rates,” he said.

“We’ve got between $3 million and $4m of carbon credits, and I think that’s where the seed capital would come from.

“We can build that up so future generations will benefit.”

Establishing a Whanganui School of Design and Technology, working with Air Chathams to relocate its headquarters to Whanganui, and empowering community-led projects were other goals for the next three years.

One example was the North Mole regeneration project, being completed by community and hapū-led collective Ngā Ringaringa Waewae, Tripe said.

“When communities own them, as opposed to council doing them to you, you get more buy-in and a better result.”

He said once the Government and Whanganui Iwi had settled Treaty negotiations, he wanted council strategies to align with iwi aspirations.

Andrew Tripe is keen to start a Whanganui investment fund, using $3 million to $4m in carbon credits as seed capital. Photo / NZME

“Iwi are a huge part of our community, and want to invest socially and commercially in their own people.

“From a council perspective, supporting that is really important.”

Tripe said he was still keen to see a new hotel built in Whanganui, but without a cost to ratepayers.

The council proposed to lead a $55 million hotel project as part of the long-term plan, but that was scrapped following the public consultation process.

“There is no doubt we are falling short of conferences, business and corporate visitors, and the international visitor sector full-stop,” Tripe said.

“The business case is only improving every day.”

Tripe said a decision on the future of the district’s water delivery was yet to be decided, with the options being going it alone, a three-council entity with Ruapehu and Rangitīkei, or a multi-council entity.

The 222 public submissions on the options swayed strongly towards going it alone.

“All have their merits. The key point is that we need to ensure no additional cost to the ratepayer compared to the status quo or, if there is, it’s only marginal.

“There are benefits of scale but we have invested well in our infrastructure. We’re in a good position and our debt is manageable.”

He said going it alone for water delivery was “the parochial position” but it was not as simple as it sounded.

“If there is an option for a non-harmonised model, where we can retain our own pricing, with the benefits of collaboration, that, on the surface of it, makes sense for me.”

Other mayoral candidates for 2025 are first-term councillor Peter Oskam and third-term councillor Josh Chandulal-Mackay, both of whom are also running for council.

Deputy Mayor Helen Craig will not seek re-election.

Tripe said whoever took her place had to love and champion Whanganui, and help “take us forward”.

“At the moment, I’m here to run my own race and see the positive momentum we’ve got continue into the future.”

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.