Consultation on Regional Council’s Representation Arrangements

The Regional Council is consulting on these proposed changes to its representation arrangements – our initial proposal. Following consultation, the Council will adopt its final proposal which is then submitted for final decision by the Local Government Commission. See the timeline for more detail.

The steps taken for Council’s representation review – from the Local Government Commission’s ‘Guidelines to assist local authorities in undertaking representation reviews’ include the following.

Step 1:  Identify communities of interest within the Region

Common features of a community of interest are geography and social, economic and cultural connections, all of which contribute to the development of a shared identity. Three dimensions for recognising communities of interest are:

• perceptual: a sense of belonging to an area or locality
• functional: the ability to meet the community’s requirements for services
• political: the ability to represent the interests and reconcile conflicts of the community.

Step 2:  Determine effective representation for communities of interest

Consider the number of councillors that would provide effective representation for the region as a whole, bearing in mind:

• the diversity of the region
• statutory obligations
• the need for efficient and effective governance of the region.

Consider whether each identified community of interest needs separate representation in a constituency, or whether some communities of interest can be grouped together to achieve effective representation.

As far as practicable, also consider:

• not splitting recognised communities of interest
• not grouping together two or more communities of interest that have few common interests
• factor in the accessibility, size, and configuration of the area concerned, including:
  • reasonable access to elected members and vice versa
  • the elected members’ ability to effectively represent the views of their electoral area and provide reasonably even representation across the area including activities like attending public meetings and opportunities for face-to-face meetings.

Step 3:  Consider fairness of representation for electors of constituencies

The key requirement for fair representation is to comply with the basic principle of population equality unless there are good reasons not to.

In the case of regional councils, constituencies may be defined in such a way that does not comply with section 19V(2) if it is considered that this is required to achieve effective representation of communities of interest (s19V(3)(b)).

A decision not to comply with section 19V(2) must be referred to the Commission for determination. Referral to the Commission is required whether or not appeals or objections have been lodged against the Council’s proposal. That referral is treated by the Commission as an appeal under the Local Electoral Act 2001.

The +/-10% “rule” is an important guide to assess fair representation, and is required under section 19V(2) of the Local Electoral Act 2001. Simply put, this rule looks to ensure each Councillor represents a similar number of people. It requires the number of people represented by each Councillor from a General constituency to be within +/-10% of the average across all elected members from the General constituencies. If the proposal does not comply with the +/-10% “rule”, it has to be approved by the Local Government Commission.

While guided by the principle of fair representation in the Local Electoral Act, the Local Government Commission balances this with the requirement to also ensure, in practical terms, constituency boundaries coincide with city and district council boundaries. The Commission sees this as important because city and district councils reflect their communities of interest based on the delivery of a wide range of day-to-day services. City and district council territories are also areas that electors closely identify with. This helps to encourage participation in local government at times of voting or when candidates stand at local elections.