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Representation review 2021

From 20 March 2021, people around Christchurch and Banks Peninsula have a fresh chance to help decide how many elected members there are, how they're elected, and what communities they represent.

Tell us what you think about the 2021 representation review. Have we got it right?

Read the full proposal and have your say on it now.(external link) Consultation closes on Sunday 16 May 2021.

Have your say

Map of the proposed Ward and Community Board boundaries

The initial proposal of Christchurch City Council’s 2021 Representation Review has been released for public consultation. It recommends tweaking the city’s ward boundaries and reducing the number of community boards from seven to six.

At least once every six years, local authorities have to review their representation arrangements to make sure they’re still fair and provide effective representation for communities.

The way we propose defining our community board areas and wards comes from the grassroots. To help work out where the boundaries should be, we ask residents what parts of the city they feel an affinity with, where they share interests in common with their neighbours, and where they go for schools, shopping, parks and more.

Each ward must represent a similar amount of people, with no more than 10 per cent difference between them. One exception for Christchurch City Council is the Banks Peninsula ward – although fewer people live there, it’s felt that because of the unique nature and geographic isolation of Banks Peninsula, it warrants its own community board.

After significant consultation with communities, Christchurch City Council proposed its ward boundaries, community boards and councillor numbers to the Local Government Commission in 2015. 

After hearing from the Council and appellants, in March 2016 the Local Government Commission decided to uphold the Council's proposal, apart from three small boundary changes.

Key features of the Local Government Commission's final decision

  • 16 councillors, plus the Mayor, with one councillor elected from each of the 16 wards (a change from the current 13 councillors elected from six wards, each with two members, apart from Banks Peninsula, which current has a single member)
  • Banks Peninsula Ward stays as it is
  • Six urban community boards
  • One Banks Peninsula community board
  • Overall, the number of elected members stays the same as present, at 54.

The boundary changes in the final decision

  • The inclusion of the whole of the Prestons subdivision in the Burwood Ward (instead of it being divided between the Burwood and Innes Wards)
  • The transfer of a small area in Bexley from the Burwood Ward to the Coastal Ward
  • The inclusion of the western part of the Heathcote Estuary in the Heathcote Ward (instead of including the whole estuary in the Coastal Ward).

Over 3000 residents participated in the Council's process to find out what people thought about these issues.

View the full determination(external link)

Consulting with the community

The Local Government Commission reached its final decision, following a long process of the Council consulting with the community

The Council agreed to its Final Proposal for the boundaries and numbers in December 2015 after an extensive review of the city's representation arrangements.

It publicly notified the detailed changes in November 2015, with appeals and objections to the Council's decision closing in December 2015.

The appeals and objections were referred to the Local Government Commission, along with the Council's Final Proposal. The Commission held hearings in Christchurch in March 2016 before issuing the final decision.