Waimairi ‘short of councillors’

Press, 21 February 1980, Page 8

Waimairi ‘short of councillors’

To remove anomalies in Waimairi County riding representations, the Papanui and Avonhead ridings should receive one more councillor each, a Waimairi man has submitted to the council. The man, Mr D. A. Hills, is a member of the Redwood Co-ordinating Committee. He says he undertook the study independently of the committee, for consideration by the council before the local body elections later this year. In a 50-page submission examining representation in all New Zealand local authorities, Mr Hill said that W’aimairi County was 8.6 per cent under-represented compared with the “typical” South Island county.

Inside the county, under the present councillor-popu-lation ratio, Papanui and Avonhead ridings were, respectively, 59.5 per cent and 31.7 per cent under-repre-sented, Mr Hill said.

Papanui had 6554 more people per councillor than the best represented riding, Belfast; and Avonhead 5056 more people per councillor. Papanui had 3200 people more than the average in the county, and Avonhead 1700 more. Under the present system only one riding came within 10 per cent of the average councillor population ratio in the county, of 5385. If Papanui and Avonhead were each given one councillor more, increasing the total number of councillors to 15, five ridings would come within 10 per cent of the average, and the range between the “best” and “least well represented” ridings would fall from 6554 people to 4320 people. With a 15-person council, the need for boundary changes to remove anomalies would be greatly reduced, Mr Hills said.