Environment Canterbury pulling a U-turn on its representation review has been hailed a victory for rural voice by Ashburton’s mayor.

The constituency boundaries outside of Christchurch will remain unchanged for the upcoming elections in 2025, but it has been recommended a full review take place before the 2028 elections.

Mayor Neil Brown had presented a submission on behalf of the district arguing ECan’s proposed changes would not provide effective representation for Ashburton District or the rural communities of Canterbury.

He was happy to see the proposed changes scrapped.

“We presented alternatives for the Ashburton District to consider if ECan didn’t stick with the status quo, but we are happy with the status quo.”

The representation review sparked a discussion of a breakaway from ECan, with the councils south of Christchurch coming under some form of unitary or southern regional council.

Those arguments had merit Brown said, acknowledging in his view ECan was “Christchurch City centric”.

“It would be nice to have something else that suits people from the Rakaia River, or even the Selwyn River, south.

“The city is different to the rural and provincial area so separating out that governance would be helpful.”

The initial proposal was to combine the Ashburton District with the current South Canterbury/Ōtuhituhi constituency, to form a larger Mid-South Canterbury/Ōtuhituhi constituency, leaving the Selwyn District as a standalone constituency.

It would have had only two councillors covering the area south of the Rakaia River – half of ECan’s total land area.

The proposal was initially supported 9-7 in July.

After hearing the submissions last week, the vote was to retain the status quo, passing 13-3 according to the unconfirmed minutes.

Christchurch Central/Ōhoko Greg Byrnes, Christchurch North East/Ōrei Joe Davies and Christchurch South/Ōwhanga Paul Dietsche were listed as voting against it, and it’s understood Christchurch Central/Ōhoko’s Genevieve Robinson had also voted against the motion.

The decision to change the Christchurch ward boundaries passed 8-4 with abstentions from Mid Canterbury/Ōpākihi’s Ian Mackenzie and John Sunckell, South Canterbury/Ōtuhituhi’s Nick Ward, and North Canterbury/Ōpukepuke’s Claire McKay.

The councillors also passed a recommendation to the incoming council, following the 2025 local body elections, to undertake a comprehensive representation review to apply for the 2028 elections. 

There were 217 submissions received on the initial proposal - 96 of those from Mid-South Canterbury (46 from the Ashburton District compared to 101 from Christchurch City and 52 from the Selwyn District).

The council will adopt the final proposal in October.

After adoption, it would be open to appeals and if any were received the final decision would go to the Local Government Commission.

By Jonathan Leask