Lawton ousts Eckhoff

Maggie Lawton.
Maggie Lawton.
Gerard Eckhoff.
Gerard Eckhoff.
Michael Laws.
Michael Laws.
Gary Kelliher.
Gary Kelliher.
Graeme Bell.
Graeme Bell.
Andrew Noone.
Andrew Noone.

New Otago Regional Council member Dr Maggie Lawton says she will make sure issues to do with the lakes and rivers around Queenstown and Wanaka get more attention from the Dunedin-based council in future.

Dr Lawton, of Wanaka, was the top polling candidate in the council’s Dunstan constituency, with strong backing from voters in the Queenstown Lakes District.

Gerard Eckhoff, of Alexandra, out-polled Dr Lawton in the Central Otago District, but was well short of her in the Queenstown Lakes District and as a result lost his seat after three terms.

The state of Lakes Wakatipu and Wanaka were frontand centre of concernsamong Queenstown and Wanaka voters before the election.

Both lakes have the lake snow algae that clogs water filters and gathers on fishing lines, and the council came in for criticism for allegedly doing too little to combat the problem.

Dunstan candidate Michael Laws, who led the criticism, was within 21 votes of a seat on the council last night. Special votes are set to decide the result.

Mr Laws was second only to Dr Lawton in the Queenstown Lakes District, but appeared early yesterday to have been pipped by sitting councillors Graeme Bell and Gary Kelliher in the Central Otago District.

But if Mr Laws gains the votes he needs, he will pass Mr Kelliher in the race for a seat.

Deputy electoral officer Sandy Graham said it could take until Thursday until late votes were verified, but there were more than 100 to be processed.

Mr Laws said he was delighted to have "pushed three popular incumbents so close".

"The issues that I have raised though around the environmental degradation of central and the lakes will not go away.

"And I’m not going away from putting them in the forefront for the next three years, either."

Dr Lawton said the council’s lack of profile in the lakes district came through during the election campaign.

"People would ask what it did and would also say, ‘where are they?’.

"And it was true that in terms of staff, they are very thin on the ground once you go past Alexandra."

Dr Lawton said it appeared voters were thinking more about the impact onthe environment of growth than they did three yearsago.

She hoped to be able to improve staff numbers in the lakes district and would be looking for funding to study water issues in particular.

"And I want to work quite closely with the district councils.‘‘I think we need to improve those working relationships."

Mr Eckhoff (69) said he was both disappointed and relieved to have been "compulsorily retired".

"It’s something you just must accept, with good grace, and I hopefully do so."

Mr Eckhoff said he was not surprised the lake snow issue was an "election winner" for Dr Lawton.

One of his main regrets was ending his association with efforts to control wilding pines.

"I led the charge on that and I was hoping to continue with that, but that won’t be the case so much."

Mr Eckhoff said he had gone into bat for rural people.

"The voices of country folk ... are becoming more muted, unfortunately."

Elsewhere, all sitting members in the Dunedin constituency held their seats.

Former Dunedin city councillor Andrew Noone was the only newcomer, polling second to Dr Gretchen Robertson and taking the place of retiring councillor Louise Croot.

The Dunedin constituency councillors are Dr Robertson, Mr Noone, Michael Deaker, Bryan Scott, Sam Neill and Trevor Kempton.

Council chairman Stephen Woodhead was returned in the Molyneux constituency and Carmen Hope was elected, replacing retiring councillor David Shepherd.

Doug Brown was elected unopposed in the Moeraki constituency.

mark.price@odt.co.nz

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