​Next steps in Representation Review determined

Feedback from the community will form the basis of the next steps in the Central Otago District Council’s Representation Review proposal.

A representation review occurs every six years and is used as a tool to assess all facets of representation in the district, including the number of elected members, ward boundaries and ward names.

A pre-consultation was held from 2 -25 February this year to get people’s opinions on key themes and was completed by 79 submitters.

At the Council meeting today (Wednesday 20 March 2024), councillors discussed the results and decided which of the submissions would be used in a formal proposal about the future representation arrangements of our community boards and wards.

There were a series of questions in the pre-engagement covering various topics that had previously been identified as possible changes that could be made to representation in the district. Following consideration of the feedback, councillors agreed to consult with the community on two changes. These are a reduction to four councillors in the Vincent Ward from the current five, and a reduction on the number of councillors appointed back to Vincent and Cromwell community boards from the current number of three to one.

This proposal will be formally consulted on with the community in late March, and will run for one month.

To see the report tabled in the Council agenda go to: https://centralotago.infocouncil.biz/

For the meeting recording go to: https://www.codc.govt.nz/your-council/meetings/meeting-recordings. (Available later this afternoon).