A proposal to increase Dunstan councillors from three to four at the expense of one of Dunedin’s six will be prepared as a final proposal for adoption later this month after a 9-2 vote yesterday.
During hearings earlier in the day, Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich argued for Mosgiel to be carved off the Molyneux constituency and brought into the Dunedin ward to preserve the city’s six representatives at the council table.
And Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Glyn Lewers made a bid for a fifth council constituency to be created — one that accounted for the growth in his district’s urban areas plus Cromwell.
Neither found favour during deliberations.
Cr Michael Laws said he had considerable sympathy for the issues raised, but the matter would "solve itself" the next time the review came around.
There were disparate communities of interest in Otago’s national electorates as well, Cr Laws said.
"There’s no community of interest between Balclutha, for example, and South Dunedin — they’re in the same electorate.
"There’s no community of interest between Oamaru, Wanaka and Cromwell, but they’re all in the same electorate.
"There’s no community of interest between Queenstown and Winton, but they’re in the same electorate.
"It’s the tyranny of the numbers game."
Earlier at the regional council meeting, Mr Radich argued Mosgiel, at present a part of the Molyneux constituency, which includes the Clutha district along with the Mosgiel-Taieri and Strath-Taieri areas, should be moved into the Dunedin ward so the city could retain six councillors.
"There’s a clear sense [in Mosgiel] of belonging to Dunedin with public transport, education and employment links," he said.
"Mosgiel and Middlemarch are fully serviced by Dunedin city with water infrastructure, roading and recreational facilities."
Mosgiel’s new swimming pool — Te Puna o Whakaehu — attracted residents from across the city.
There were strong transport linkages and residents of Mosgiel-Taieri and Strath-Taieri communities all voted for Dunedin city councillors in an at-large arrangement.
"There are no shared services with Balclutha," he said.
Mr Lewers argued the regional council’s proposal ignored growth projections and communities of interest.
"The growth is actually happening in inland Otago and it’s centred around Queenstown, Wanaka, Hawea and Cromwell.
Mr Lewers said the Queenstown Lakes district had been the fastest-growing area since "at least 1996".
"Our district’s population grew by an astounding 8% last year.
"Otago as a whole only grew 2.7%"
The challenge his district faced was compounded by a high number of visitors.
The area’s growth made it nationally important and its international airport was the fourth-largest in the country, Mr Lewers said.
"The needs of this area should be viewed as similar to those of urban centres, such as Dunedin city, and do not align with those of . . . rural locations."
Central Otago District Mayor Tim Cadogan, on the other hand, congratulated the council for its proposal, which he said "resisted the temptation to gerrymander in terms of trying to move the deck chairs around to make people happy".
He was concerned with Mr Lewers’ proposal to "pinch Cromwell" as it would strip Dunstan of councillors and leave only one for the rural area he represented — and there was a community of interest issue, he said.
Cromwell identified as being part of Central Otago.
Queenstown was "a metro".
"Cromwell isn’t."
Meanwhile, Federated Farmers senior policy adviser Harriet Jopp said there needed to be more councillors in the Dunstan constituency.
Representatives from a community would see rural families struggling to pay for school uniforms or ski lessons.
"And they see diversification of land use arising from financial pressure.
"And that all comes back to our point about effective representation of rural communities, which is necessary to ensure appropriate oversight and equity within the council."
The council’s strategy and customer general manager Amanda Vercoe told councillors yesterday there was a lot of support among submissions (83% in favour, 17% opposed) for the council’s proposal.
