With significant growth in Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes, the Otago Regional Council is proposing to reduce the number of Dunedin councillors by one and add one to the Dunstan constituency.

At today’s meeting council resolved that the following proposal apply for the council for the elections to be held on 11 October 2025 and in 2028 (or another representation review be undertaken).

The proposal

It is proposed that the Council comprise 12 members elected from four constituencies. The four constituencies reflect the following identified communities of interest:

The population that each member will represent is as follows:

In accordance with section 19V(2), Local Electoral Act 2001 the population that each member represents must be within the range of 21,217 +/- 10% (19,096 – 23,338), unless particular community of interest considerations justify otherwise. All of the proposed constituencies fall within the stipulated range.

Submissions are invited

The public are invited to make written submissions on the Council’s representation proposal and any other suggestions they may have about councillor numbers or ward boundaries.

Submissions open 10 July and close 11 August and can be made either online at www.orc.govt.nz/RepReview24 or by mail to:

Attention – Amanda Vercoe

Otago Regional Council Dunedin office: 144 Rattray Street, Level 2, Philip Laing House, Dunedin

or Otago Regional Council Queenstown office: 1092 Frankton Road, Alta House Level 1/Terrace Junction, Frankton, Queenstown.

What is a representation review?

Every six years councils must review how communities are represented in the make-up of their council. A representation review looks at the structures in place, including:

• the number of constituencies (electoral areas) and their boundaries
• the number of elected members (councillors) representing each constituency

The representation review cannot change the people who are currently elected but it may increase the number of councillors - 14 is the maximum number of councillors a regional council can have.

The last representation review for Otago Regional Council was completed in 2018. No changes were made to the existing constituencies or number of councillors.

Representation reviews require Council to look at three key concepts:

• Communities of interest: to identify what communities of interest exist across the district, which is relevant to determining the number and boundaries of constituencies.
• Effective representation of communities of interest: to identify what’s the best structure to maintain access and representation that recognises these communities of interest, which is relevant to determining the number of members
• Fair representation of electors: to ensure that each councillor should represent roughly the same number of people, which is relevant for ensuring equality of representation per member.

Current arrangement

The Otago Regional Council is made up of 12 Councillors, elected from four constituencies:

• Dunstan 3
• Moeraki 1
• Molyneux 2
• Dunedin 6

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