The chairman of one of Arrowtown's initial action groups from 23 years ago says having a council ward representative for the town is a must.
In 1989, Jim Ryan and several others from the Arrowtown Action Group called a pub meeting to discuss local government amalgamation, and three-quarters of the town's population turned up.
The former chairman of the group and current member of the Arrowtown Planning Advisory Group has stopped short of ringing the town bell this time around, but said it was important the Arrowtown community spoke up about the future of the Queenstown Lakes District Council ward system.
"QLDC will have a huge fight on their hands if that is what they are seriously proposing."
The Government's six-yearly review of council representation has indicated Arrowtown is 200 residents short of having its own ward and representative, according to a 2006 census estimate.
Mr Ryan said the local government commission listened to village concerns all those years ago and the people again needed to speak up.
He said he had expected "50 or so" people to turn up at the 1989 meeting and instead, 600-700 shared their views.
"We were very concerned Arrowtown would be gobbled up in the Queenstown scene and we would lose our identity," he said.
"We all had a bit of a yarn, called a pub meeting and 75% of the town showed up."
The initial group of Jack Reid, Geoff Ramshaw, Taylor Reid and Mr Ryan flew to Christchurch to meet the local government commission representative at the time.
"They knew Arrowtown. They said, 'We think you guys have got a case'."
Mr Ryan said the goal was not to stop amalgamation, but to have an Arrowtown ward and representative, and the issue was similar today.
He said the town had enough representative groups now, such as the Arrowtown Business Association, the Arrowtown Heritage trust and the volunteer planning advisory group.
"Arrowtown doesn't need or require a community board; we have very strong groups already.
But we must have a councillor representing us, because I have seen what they do.
"When a councillor is living here, they... go well beyond their job description to find out the concerns and issues that are in town."
Although the review has removed Arrowtown's representative, Wanaka has gained one and has three, and Queenstown has six.
Mr Ryan and former councillors David Clarke and Taylor Reed, and current councillor Lex Perkins, distributed a letter last week to every Arrowtown mailbox asking residents to call for having one extra councillor and keeping the Arrowtown ward.
Mr Ryan said he and the four others who signed the letter disputed the outdated 2006 census estimate and an Arrowtown representative in council would "make a huge difference".
Mr Perkins said it was important for Arrowtown residents to submit before Friday and tell the council what they wanted for the town.
"It's important the people tell us what they want and they make a noise about it.
"It is all about consultation; we work on consultation and everything goes to consultation."
He said if the ward was lost this time around, it would not be coming back.
QLDC had received 17 submissions by Friday afternoon, all from Arrowtown residents wanting to keep an Arrowtown ward representative.
Submissions close this Friday.
• Tell us what you think of the Queenstown Lakes District Council's representation review and its proposal to remove the Arrowtown ward councillor by emailing news@queenstowntimes.co.nz.
