Representation Review 2024

Appeals and objections on Environment Southland’s Final Proposal have now closed.

From Friday 4 October 2024 to Monday 4 November 2024 people and organisations that had submitted on Environment Southland’s initial proposal were able to appeal Council’s final proposal (being the initial proposal unchanged).

Two appeals were received, and these have been provided to the Local Government Commission for their consideration.

The Local Government Commission will then determine the representation arrangements for Environment Southland by 11 April 2025.

Final proposal

Having considered all the submissions, the Council resolved to adopt its initial proposal as the Council’s final proposal. The Council rejected the matters raised in opposition to the initial proposal for the following reasons:

• Under-representation in the Invercargill-Rakiura Constituency
  Council considers that the current total number of councillors (12) is appropriate for the geography and population size of the region and that increasing the number of councillors to the Invercargill-Rakiura Constituency from six to seven, by increasing the total number of councillors to 13, is unnecessary and may compromise effective representation. It is also considered that increasing the number of councillors to the Invercargill-Rakiura Constituency by reducing the number of councillors from another constituency is impractical and would lead to significant non-compliance with the fair representation criteria.
• Stewart Island/Rakiura representation
  Council considers that dividing the Invercargill-Rakiura Constituency into two to establish a specific Stewart Island/Rakiura Constituency would not be suitable as it would lead to significant non-compliance with the fair representation criteria and would require either increasing the total number of councillors to 13 or reducing the number of councillors to an existing constituency. Functionally the only transport link between Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Southland Region is via Invercargill therefore Council considered that a boundary change to combine Stewart Island/Rakiura with the Western Constituency would not provide effective representation. Council agreed to explore other opportunities to enhance Councillor involvement with Stewart Island-Rakiura outside of the representation review.
• Amalgamation of rural constituencies
  Council considers that the existing Eastern-Dome, Fiordland, Hokonui, Southern and Western Constituencies represent well defined and distinct communities of interest and combining these constituencies would not lead to better representation.

On 25 September 2024, Council resolved that the following apply for the elections to be held on 11 October 2025:

• It is proposed that Environment Southland (Southland Regional Council) comprises 12 councillors elected from six constituencies, these being:
• The six constituencies, the number of councillors per constituency, the constituency populations (estimated as at 30 June 2023) and the population ratio per councillor are as follows:
• In accordance with section 19V(2) of the Local Electoral Act 2001, the population that each constituency councillor represents must be within the population range of 8,659 plus or minus 10% (7,793 – 9,525) unless particular community of interest considerations justify otherwise.
• The reason for the boundary changes to the Eastern-Dome, Hokonui and Western Constituencies is to reflect ward boundary changes being proposed by Southland District Council.
• Fiordland Constituency (represented by one councillor), comprising the area delineated on SO Plan 11503 deposited with Land Information New Zealand, the boundaries of which are shown on the map included below.
• Eastern-Dome Constituency (represented by two councillors), comprising the area delineated on Plan LG-15-2019-Con-2 deposited with the Local Government Commission with the exclusion of one meshblock to be moved into the Hokonui Constituency (3051900), the boundaries of which are shown on the map included below.
• Western Constituency (represented by one councillor), comprising the area delineated on SO Plan 386355 deposited with Land Information New Zealand, with the exclusion of nine meshblocks to be moved into the Hokonui Constituency (3077600, 3077702, 3179400, 3179300, 3183400, 3074500, 3183100, 3183200 and 3183500), and the inclusion of three meshblocks to be moved from the Hokonui Constituency (3078900, 3079300 and 3166704), the boundaries of which are shown on the map included below.
• Hokonui Constituency (represented by one councillor), comprising the area delineated on Plan LG-15-2019Con-3 deposited with the Local Government Commission, with the exclusion of three meshblocks to be moved into the Western Constituency (3078900, 3079300 and 3166704), the inclusion of nine meshblocks to be moved from the Western Constituency (3077600, 3077702, 3179400, 3179300, 3183400, 3074500, 3183100, 3183200 and 3183500), and the inclusion of one meshblock to be moved from the Eastern- Dome Constituency (3051900), the boundaries of which are shown on the map included below.
• Southern Constituency (represented by one councillor), comprising the area delineated on Plan LG-15-2019Con-4 deposited with the Local Government Commission, the boundaries of which are shown on the map included below.
• Invercargill-Rakiura Constituency (represented by six councillors), comprising the area delineated on SO Plan 301281 deposited with Land Information New Zealand, the boundaries of which are shown on the map included below.

The final proposal does not comply with section 19V(2) of the Local Electoral Act 2001 and must be referred to the Local Government Commission for determination. Council has investigated adjusting constituency boundaries to achieve compliance however consider that doing so would divide existing communities of interest. The non-complying constituencies, and the reasons for the non-compliance are below:

• Fiordland Constituency (-46.18%): The reason for the non-compliance is that the Fiordland Constituency is geographically distinct from the rest of the region and based on perceptual, functional and political dimensions is a distinct community of interest. Ensuring compliance with the fair representation criteria would require a significant extension into other areas of the region and impact the effectiveness of its representation.
• Southern Constituency (-17.77%): The reason for the non-compliance of the Southern Constituency is to avoid dividing the existing community of interest, which is largely aligned with the Waihopai Toetoe Ward of Southland District Council. Achieving compliance with the fair representation criteria would require significantly increasing the geographic area of the constituency to include other areas of the region, further increasing the existing non-alignment with Southland District Council wards.
• Invercargill-Rakiura Constituency (+12.21%): The reason for the non-compliance is that the Invercargill-Rakiura Constituency represents a defined community of interest. Ensuring compliance with the fair representation criteria would involve adding a councillor or dividing the constituency, likely the Stewart Island/Rakiura area and including it with another constituency or creating its own constituency. As described above, the Council considers the current number of councillors (12) to be appropriate for the geography and size of the region, and the Stewart Island/Rakiura area is most closely linked with the Invercargill area and is not sufficiently populated to exist as its own constituency.

Appeals

Any person who made a submission on Council’s initial proposal may lodge an appeal against the Council’s decision. An appeal must relate to the matters raised in that person’s submission.

Appeals must be made in writing and should state your name, address, telephone number and email address (if you have one) and should reach Council no later than 5.00pm on Monday 4 November 2024.

An appeal form is available from the Council office or can be downloaded here.

Appeals can be forwarded by:

• Email to - consultation@es.govt.nz
• In Person - Drop off to the Environment Southland office: Cnr North Road & Price Street, Invercargill
• Freepost to:
  Environment Southland
  Freepost 247418
  Private Bag 90116
  Invercargill 9840

Hearings

Environment Southland councillors heard from community members at a hearing on Wednesday 28 August following the closing of the review's consultation period.

The initial proposal was available for public consultation from 19 July to 19 August and attracted 18 submissions, with seven submitters speaking to their submission at the hearing.

Agenda for the Extraordinary Meeting Of Council to hear the Representation Review submissions here.

Submissions

On 4 September 2024, Council considered the submissions received on its initial proposal for its representation arrangements for the coming Local Government elections in 2025. The Council received 18 submissions, six were in support, three were partially in support and nine were opposed to the initial proposal. Submitters opposed to the initial proposal gave the following reasons:

• Under-representation in the Invercargill-Rakiura Constituency
  Some submitters suggested there was a need for adjusting the number of councillors to address the under-representation of the Invercargill/Rakiura Constituency (+12.21%) and over-representation of the Southern (-17.77%) and Fiordland (-46.18%) Constituencies. Submitters sought either reallocating of councillors or the addition of one councillor to the Invercargill-Rakiura Constituency.
• Stewart Island/Rakiura representation
  Other submitters sought increased representation for Stewart Island/Rakiura either as its own constituency, through an increase in councillors representing Invercargill/Rakiura or amalgamated with the Western Constituency.
• Amalgamation of rural constituencies

Another submitter’s suggestion was reducing constituencies to two, being Invercargill (6 councillors) and Country/Rural (6 councillors).