Due to population growth in Auckland’s CBD the Council is reviewing ward boundaries to make sure each ward has roughly the same amount of people. This is a statutory requirement by the Local Electoral Act. Meadowbank and St Johns currently sit in Orakei Ward. Part of the proposal to reshuffle boundaries is for part of St Johns to be moved to the Maungakiekie Ward – see map below and click here for more information. While we understand the need to ensure that council wards contain about the same amount of people, we believe that there are better options than splitting a suburb, and spreading a residents association across two wards that (in our humble opinion) is working well. We believe that there are more suitable options for adjusting the ward boundaries and that either Stonefields or part of Glendowie moving into the Maungakiekie ward would be closer to the Communities of Interest that the council used for their initial proposal. There is also some concern that down the track this could mean that the local board boundaries change also.
The Association will be lodging a submission that reflects this view and we encourage all members and residents who feel strongly about the issue to lodge submissions reflecting their own views. Note that the submissions close on 11 September 2018 and can be lodged online by clicking here. We want to encourage all who have views on the proposed boundary changes to make a submission.