QLDC has been reviewing its representation arrangements – the number of councillors and the way they are elected. An advisory group produced a report which was considered by the full Council at the end of June this year. The main issue debated at that meeting was the fate of the single-seat Arrowtown Ward. But buried in the detail was the fate of Kelvin Peninsula.
The Advisory Group recommended dividing representation of the current Queenstown-Wakatipu Ward into two electoral wards, the boundary between them to follow the line of the Shotover River and the eastern boundary of the lower part of Lake Wakatipu. The Peninsula was considered to fall within the lower part of the Lake and therefore in the proposed new Kawarau Ward; but the rest of the Frankton Arm communities would be in the new Whakatipu Ward.
KPCA objected to this result and the Council accepted our argument that we should remain aligned with the Frankton Arm communities.
In the Review now out for public consultation, the proposed boundary follows the same line of the Shotover River and the eastern boundary of the lower part of Lake Wakatipu, but with a ‘diversion’ to include Kelvin Peninsula in the Whakatipu Ward. We have made a submission to QLDC in support of this Representation proposal.