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Rangitaiki Ward stays

Tuesday 31 May 2011, 8:15AM

By Whakatane District Council

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WHAKATANE

Whakatane District Council welcomes the decision of the Local Government Commission not to proceed with the proposal to transfer Rangitaiki Ward to Kawerau district.

The Council believes that the best interests of ratepayers in both the Rangitaiki Ward and the wider Whakatane District are served by this outcome.

Acting Mayor Judy Turner says since the election in October last year, the new Council has made a concerted effort to better engage with Rangitaiki ratepayers, listening to concerns that are both historic and current.

“Council has supported the good work of the Rangitaiki Community Board to collect and prioritise all the suggestions that ratepayers have for improved services and rates affordability”, added Mrs Turner.

Announcing the decision Local Government Commissioner Gwen Bull said the Commission had considered a number of factors including whether the proposal would promote good local government of Rangitaiki Ward, Kawerau and Whakatane District Councils’.

Commissioner Bull said after assessing the proposal and all the submissions, the Commission found that the proposal would not promote good local government of each of the districts concerned.

On arriving at this decision, the proposal was assessed against the criteria set out in the Local Government Act.

The announcement today follows Commissioners Sue Piper, Grant Kirby and Gwen Bull spending two days in Whakatane hearing from a number of submitters, both for and against the proposal.

Mrs Turner said the Council would like to thank staff for the additional work they put into preparing information for the hearing and the many people who made submissions to the Commission.

Council would also like to thank the petitioner for reminding us all that Whakatane is a District not a town and want to assure Mr Hutchinson and the community that the Council takes seriously its responsibility to engage with the whole community.

Copies of the full decision are available from LGC website