Whanganui's rural community board asks for name change to include 'h'

The Wanganui Rural Community Board could soon follow the District Council in adding an 'h' to its name.

The Wanganui Rural Community Board has taken the first step towards adding an 'H' to its name.

But there remains a lengthy process to go through before the change will be confirmed.

The board voted on Wednesday to ask the Whanganui District Council to include the proposed change in council's representation review which is due next year.

In November 2015 the New Zealand Geographic Board recommended changing the district's name from Wanganui to Whanganui following a request from council.

This was agreed to by Land Information Minister Louise Upston and decision which changed the council's name to Whanganui District Council.

But the process for naming a community board is different.

The proposed name change will now form part of council's representation review, which happens every six years, and looks at a number of representation matter such as how many councillors and what community boards the district has.

The representation review will be open for public submissions before being adopted by councillors.

The community board has previously considered adding the 'H' to its name in December 2015 but voted to defer any decision to a later date and to investigate "the process for altering the name of the Wanganui Rural Community Board".

In March Horizons councillors voted to put the "H" into the council's official name, Manawatu-Whanganui Regional Council.

That too was the second attempt to adopt the new spelling after chairman Bruce Gordon declined to use his casting vote following a split vote in December 2015.