Representation review
Our Councillors represent different areas of Waitaha/Canterbury. We’re currently reviewing how fair and effective our representation arrangements are. Due to population changes, we need to make some changes before the next local body elections in October 2025.
The Local Electoral Act 2001 requires councils to undertake a representation review every six years.
For a regional council, the review must cover:
- The number of electoral areas – constituencies (local councils use wards)
- The boundaries of those constituencies and their names
- The number of Councillors to represent them.
To ensure effective and fair representation, there are four things we must consider:
- The number of people represented within each constituency area (population)
- The alignment of communities of interest within each constituency
- The alignment of constituencies to local council boundaries or wards
- How many elected Councillors should represent each constituency (each Councillor should represent roughly the same population +/- 10 per cent).
Development of preliminary options
Currently, we have seven constituencies, with two Councillors elected from each one.
Based on current boundaries and population, Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury is over-represented, Ōpākihi/Mid Canterbury is under-represented, and our Ōtautahi/Christchurch constituencies do not align with the current Christchurch City Council wards.
Council has been considering several options to realign constituencies to make our representation fair, while also considering which communities share similarities.
We need your help
Below you’ll find some options Councillors think could address the criteria listed above. Fill out the survey to tell us which option you think best represents your community, and if there is anything else you think we should consider.
Which option do you think best represents your community:
- Option one - Retain the status quo (with Ōtautahi/Christchurch City constituency realignment)
- Option two - Merge Ōpākihi/Mid Canterbury and Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury constituencies
- Option three - Create a new constituency combining Hakatere/Ashburton District and the current Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury constituency
- Please note: All options realign the Ōtautahi/Christchurch City constituency boundaries
Your feedback will help Council narrow the options down to one for formal consultation later this year.
Note: Mana whenua representation is not included in this review. Our Council has two Ngāi Tahu Councillors who represent mana whenua interests across all of Waitaha/Canterbury. This was achieved through the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Act 2022 and is not part of this consultation.
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All options realign the Christchurch City constituency boundaries
In 2021, Christchurch City Council (CCC) undertook a review and realigned its wards to enable better representation of Ōtautahi/Christchurch communities.
The Local Electoral Act says our constituency boundaries should align with local council boundaries. Our constituency boundaries in Ōtautahi/Christchurch still align with the old CCC ward boundaries, so we propose a minor adjustment to align with the current CCC ward boundaries. This realignment is included in all of three options.
Using this map: To turn off and on the current constituency boundaries and city wards click on the square icon in the top right corner of the map. To collapse the legend at the bottom click on the square icon in the bottom right corner.
Comparing population ratios
The charts below show you the population ratio comparisons between our current constituencies and how they would change by realigning them to the new CCC ward boundaries.
Current constituency boundaries
Christchurch City constituency realignment
View option one - Retain the status quo.View option two - Merge Ōpākihi/Mid Canterbury and Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury constituencies.
View option three - Create a new constituency combining Hakatere/Ashburton District and the current Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury constituency.
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Option one - Retain the status quo (with Ōtautahi/Christchurch City constituency realignment)
This option keeps the Ōpukepuke/North Canterbury, Ōpākihi/Mid Canterbury and Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury constituencies the same and only makes minor changes to our four Ōtautahi/Christchurch constituency boundaries, to align with the new Christchurch City ward boundaries.
Ōpukepuke/North Canterbury constituency includes:
- Waimakariri District
- Hurunui District
- Kaikōura District
The Ōpākihi/Mid Canterbury constituency includes:
- Waikirikiri/Selwyn District
- Hakatere/Ashburton District
The Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury constituency includes:
- Timaru District
- Waimate District
- Waitaki District (in part)
- Makēnehi/Mackenzie District.
The number of elected representatives for each constituency would remain the same, two for each.
You may feel that alignment of communities of interest is reason to keep them as they are. However, this would mean under the population criteria set out in the Act, Ōpākihi/Mid Canterbury/would be under-represented and Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury over-represented.
At the time of the last review in 2018, the Local Government Commission approved our proposal to have two councillors in Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury despite the lower population served because of the vast size of the constituency. Is there another way to align the communities of interest and address the population criteria?
Using this map: To turn off and on the current constituency boundaries and city and district council boundaries click on the square icon in the top right corner of the map. To collapse the legend at the bottom click on the square icon in the bottom right corner.
Population ratios for option one
View option two - Merge Ōpākihi/Mid Canterbury and Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury constituencies.
View option three - Create a new constituency combining Hakatere/Ashburton District and the current Ōtuhituh/South Canterbury constituency.
Know what you think we should do? Share your feedback now.
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Option two - Merge Ōpākihi/Mid Canterbury and Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury constituencies
In addition to realigning the Christchurch City constituencies, we could combine the Ōpākihi/Mid Canterbury and Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury constituencies to create one much larger constituency including:
- Waikirikiri/Selwyn District
- Hakatere/Ashburton District
- Timaru District
- Waimate District
- Waitaki District (in part)
- Makēnehi/Mackenzie District.
This constituency would be represented by four Councillors.
This option would provide a fair representation in terms of population ratio, but increase the geographical area represented by the Councillors elected. With a larger area, there is less certainty of the spread of Councillors. There is the potential that all elected Councillors could come from within one or two of the districts (i.e. all four representatives could be from Waikirikiri/Selwyn).
Using this map: To turn off and on the current constituency boundaries and city and district council boundaries click on the square icon in the top right corner of the map. To collapse the legend at the bottom click on the square icon in the bottom right corner.
Population ratios for option two
View option one - Retain the status quo
View option three - Create a new constituency combining Hakatere/Ashburton District and the current Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury constituency
Know what you think we should do? Share your feedback now.
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Option three - Create a new constituency combining Hakatere/Ashburton District and the current Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury constituency
In addition to realigning the Christchurch City constituencies we could create a new constituency by extending the Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury boundary to include Hakatere/Ashburton District. This would leave Waikirikiri/Selwyn (currently in the Ōpākihi/Mid Canterbury constituency) as a constituency on its own.
This option would provide a fair population representation ratio for the new constituency, however, Waikirikiri/Selwyn would be over-represented.
In this option, the two constituencies would be represented by two elected councillors each.
Using this map: To turn off and on the current constituency boundaries and city and district council boundaries click on the square icon in the top right corner of the map. To collapse the legend at the bottom click on the square icon in the bottom right corner.
Population ratios for option three
View option one - Retain the status quo.
View option two - Merge Ōpākihi/Mid Canterbury and Ōtuhituhi/South Canterbury constituencies.
Know what you think we should do? Share your feedback now.