Still, those who oppose the proposed change hold strong views.
The West Harbour Community Board said it was "alarmed" by the Otago Regional Council’s initial proposal — to account for growth in Central Otago by adding a councillor in Dunstan, an increase to four, and dropping one in Dunedin, a decrease to five.
"We are alarmed by this potential loss of representation," community board chairwoman Ange McErlane said.
"Dunedin arguably boasts the greatest diversity of distinct communities of interest of any constituency within the Otago Regional Council catchment, yet also has the largest single definable community of interest.
"The proposed cuts in representation levels would do Dunedin’s diverse communities a real disservice."
The community board agreed the Dunstan area was at present "under-represented", which needed correcting.
But shifting the issue from Dunstan to Dunedin was not an enduring solution, Ms McErlane said.
Dunedin’s Future Development Strategy projected a population growth of 13,500 over the next 30 years, with the fastest growth happening from now to 2029.
Based on population growth projections, if Dunedin lost a councillor the Local Government Act representation threshold would be exceeded by the time the 2025 elections were held, she said.
"The DCC’s strong view is that the Dunedin constituency should remain at six members," Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said.
"The addition of a member in the Dunstan constituency should not come at the expense of Dunedin residents."
The city council said the regional council could simply increase the number of councillors from 12 to 13 — and keep Dunedin’s regional councillors at six.
Or the regional council could consider changing the Dunedin constituency boundary and include Mosgiel in it, rather than the present arrangement where the suburb was part of the Molyneux constituency, Mr Radich said.
The Clutha District Council supported the regional council’s initial proposal precisely because it kept two councillors in Molyneux, which is made up of the Clutha district territorial area and Mosgiel-Taieri and Strath-Taieri Community Board areas.
Federated Farmers submitted in favour of the proposal to increase the number of Dunstan councillors, from three to four.
It was Federated Farmers’ view "that there is insufficient representation on the council with those who understand and can adequately represent rural issues", Otago provincial president Luke Kane said.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council urged consideration of another proposal, redrawing the constituency boundaries to create a new constituency using the existing Queenstown Lakes district boundary and including Cromwell.
By 2030, the usually resident population in the Queenstown Lakes district was projected to be 60,212.
That "rapid and sustained growth" growth would represent a 43% increase since the 2018 regional council representation review.
The new constituency should be afforded three councillors, the district council said.
The regional council yesterday said it received 165 submissions on its initial proposal and six asked to speak at a hearing tomorrow.
An informal count by the Otago Daily Times found 137 of the 165 submissions received favoured the council’s proposal.
The bulk of submissions though did not provide detailed commentary.
