Otago regional councillors will hear community input on the council representation review at hearings scheduled for early October.

The initial proposal was available for public consultation from 10 July to 8 September and attracted 165 submissions, six of which will speak at a hearing on 3 October. 

Otago Regional Council Chief Executive Richard Saunders said, “Input from the community on how they are being represented by council is very important to us and we appreciate the people who took the time to share their views. We have 6 people scheduled to speak at the Council hearing on 3 October.”

All submissions are available as part of the Council agenda.

Every six years, all councils are required to review their representation arrangements, including how many councillors there are and the areas they represent.

Why were changes to councillor numbers proposed?

Population data supplied from Stats NZ indicated that following population growth over the past 6 years the Dunstan ward now falls outside the +/- 10% margin of the average across the region, and thus no longer meets the legislative requirements for fair representation. Adding an extra elected member will redress this. Constituency boundaries will not change.

What happens next?

Deliberations will follow the hearings on Thursday 3rd October, before council makes a final decision at the 23 October meeting – after which there will be a one-month appeals/objections period.

The Local Government Commission will determine the arrangements by April 2025, and they will take effect for the local government elections in October 2025.

Both the hearing and deliberation sessions will be live-streamed on ORC’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@otagoregionalcouncilofficial  

More information about the representation review, the role of an ORC councillor, and the initial proposal is available on ORC’s website: https://www.orc.govt.nz/your-council/public-reporting/council-representation-review/

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