Final Proposal

Selwyn District Council Final proposal for representation arrangements for the 2016 local elections

Submissions

On 28 October 2015 the Selwyn District Council considered the submissions received on its initial proposal regarding the representation arrangements for the Council and its constituent community boards to apply for the local elections to be held on 8 October 2016.

The Council received 226 submissions on its proposal, some with multiple submission points, which covered a variety of issues as follows:

• 139 submitters supported the proposal to have a Malvern Community Board while two submissions did not support that proposal
• six submitters supported the proposal to not have a Selwyn Central Community Board, while 45 submissions did not support that proposal and wanted a Selwyn Central Community Board
• six submitters supported the proposal to have 11 councillors in the District
• nine submitters supported the proposal to have four wards over the District
• six submitters asked that the proposed ward name “Central” be changed back to the previous name of “Selwyn Central” while two submitters asked for a new name of “Paparua”
• 11 submissions agreed with council on the entire proposal
• 24 submissions made various comments on the proposal not related to the above points.

Final proposal

Having considered all of the submissions, the Council resolved to adopt its initial proposal as the Council’s final proposal, with the following amendment:

• That the proposal to name a ward “Central” will be amended to the previous name of “Selwyn Central”, as the Council considers the name “Selwyn Central” reflects the community of interest of the ward.

The Council rejected the other matters raised in objections for the following reasons:

• Forty-five submissions did not support the Council’s proposal to not have a community board in the Selwyn Central ward. The Council carefully considered the submission points made but confirmed its decision to not have a community board in that ward, noting that there is adequate community representation to the Council in the Selwyn Central ward provided by way of the existing residents associations and Council reserve and hall committees; and that this ward is geographically of a smaller size and has a smaller number of committees, allowing councillors to represent their residents more easily than in larger wards.
• The other matters raised in objection to the proposal to have a Malvern Community Board, and the Selwyn Central ward being named “Paparua” would not have resulted in enhanced fair and effective representation of communities of interest and fair representation of electors and the promotion of good local government.

Therefore the final proposal is as follows:

Council Representation

It is proposed that the Council comprise 11 members elected from four wards, and the mayor. The four wards reflect the following identified communities of interest:

The population that each member will represent is as follows:

In accordance with section 19V(2) of the Local Electoral Act 2001 the population that each member represents must be within the range of 4,495 +/- 10% (4,045 to 4,945)

Community Board Representation

It is proposed that one community board be elected. The one community board will be the Malvern Community Board.

Five members will be elected to the Malvern Community Board. One councillor will be appointed to the community board from the Malvern ward.

The Malvern Community Board will be subdivided for electoral purposes as follows:

The population that the members of each subdivision will represent is shown below:

The population each member of the Malvern Community Board represents falls within the range of 1,692 +/-10% (1,523 – 1,861) in accordance with section 19V(2) of the Act.

Appeals and objections

Any person who made a submission on the Council’s initial proposal may lodge an appeal against the Council’s decision. An appeal must relate to the matters raised in that person's submission.

Any person who objects to the final proposal may lodge an objection to the Council’s final proposal.

Any objection must identify the matters to which the objection relates.

Appeals and objections must be made in writing and must be received by Council no later than 5pm, Monday 14 December 2015 .

Appeals and objections are to be forwarded to:

Attention: Douglas Marshall (03 347 2701)

• Selwyn District Council, 2 Norman Kirk Drive, Rolleston; PO Box 90, Rolleston 7643.
• Email representationreview@selwyn.govt.nz
• Fax 03 347 2799.

Further information

Any queries regarding the Council’s decision should be directed to Douglas Marshall (contact details above).

David Ward

Chief Executive

11 November 2015