A proposed shake-up of Environment Canterbury's representative borders has been branded "nasty politics" by a councillor.

Environment Canterbury councillor Ian Mackenzie said the proposal could be the catalyst for the Mid and South Canterbury councils to break away from ECan to form a unitary authority - a combination of a territorial and regional council.

The regional council is consulting on a reshuffle of its constituent boundaries, which would shift Ashburton into South Canterbury and leave Selwyn on its own.

The proposal won support from ECan in a narrow 9-7 vote last month.

Mackenzie said he was disappointed in the way the decision had played out.

“I felt it was a particular nasty vote,” Mackenzie said.

“There was no compelling reason to change it for this coming election but clearly some want to reduce the say from the rural constituencies, which I think is a bad move for a regional council as that’s where most of our work is done.”

The combining of Ashburton and South Canterbury signals a centralisation and urbanisation of ECan’s representation, he said.

Currently at the ECan table, the urban area of Christchurch has eight councillors and there are two each covering the Selwyn and Ashburton, North Canterbury and South Canterbury councils.

Under the proposal, urban Christchurch will have 8 the Selwyn District will have two, while North Canterbury (Waimakariri, Hurunui and Kaikoura districts) also has two councillors.

That would mean 12 councillors represent the area north of the Rakaia River and only two will cover the south, stretching just beyond the Waitaki River - half the total land area in Canterbury.

The two Ngāi Tahu appointed councillors effectively represent the whole region, and are not part of the representation review.

Local authorities are required by law to review their representation arrangements at least once every six years to ensure fair representation at elections.

However, Mackenzie said these changes could prove a catalyst for greater change.

“We are already getting ignored on issues," McKenzie said.

"Things that are really important to other communities outside of Christchurch, but we just get out voted by Christchurch.”

An example was Ashburton’s input into the early stages of developing the regional policy statement.

“A Christchurch-based councillor complained that the Ashburton submission views should be discounted as it only represented the views of 6-8% of the total Canterbury population, but the Ashburton submissions were something like 40% of total submissions.

“The Ashburton submissions were pretty much ignored.”

ECan deputy chair Craig Pauling said the proposal to combine Ashburton with the current South Canterbury/Ōtuhituhi constituency is based on population numbers and is close as possible to meeting the local government criteria. 

“It acknowledges the population growth in Selwyn/Waikirikiri and provides a more even ratio between population and councillors, accounting for communities of shared interests,” Pauling said.

Mackenzie said the South Canterbury councils have been considering forming a unitary council.

The Ashburton District probably hasn’t seriously considered it but the proposed representation changes at ECan “could push them to support forming a South Canterbury unitary council”.

“I would argue it’s probably inevitable now if we want to look after our own interests.

“You look at issues like Lake Hood, Lake Camp, Greenstreet, and other issues Ashburton is facing, we just get ignored in Christchurch despite clear and strong support from me at the other rural councillors.

As a unitary council the southern councils would get “better control of our own destiny going forward”.

Ashburton opposition to proposal

A unitary authority proposal will be presented to the Ashburton District Council on Wednesday.

David Douglas is scheduled to present the proposal in the public forum at the start of the meeting.

It will give the councillors something to ponder after it was indicated last week they will be submitting against ECan’s initial representation review proposal.

Councillor Richard Wilson said the proposed changes “cancelled Mid Canterbury out of their democratic process”.

Councillor Russell Ellis said the councillors needed to discuss the submission as there was a lot to consider.

“There are fairly big implications for our district.”

The council already submitted during the initial stages of ECan’s review process that it did not support any of the options that were presented as none of them would guarantee effective or fair representation for the district.

Public submissions are open on the initial representation proposal and close on September 2.

By Jonathan Leask