Better Upper Clutha Democracy campaign posters. This group has been set up for the benefit of people living in the Upper Clutha, who believe in the need for a community board that will listen to and represent their interests.
The founders of this group all made submissions in connection with the recent Representation Review, advocating strongly in favour of retaining the Wanaka Community Board. We were not alone: of the 225 written submissions made by Upper Clutha residents, 189 (84%) wanted to keep WCB.
Since the public hearings the three Wanaka Ward councillors, who had previously voted to disestablish WCB, have stated publicly that they are now in favour of keeping WCB. In addition, the Representation Review has been amended and now recommends (1) an increase in the number of Wanaka Ward councillors to four and (2) retention of WCB.
While this is a positive outcome, we want to ensure that at the full Council meeting on 16th September the councillors vote to adopt the amended Representation Review Report.
Even if we have a successful outcome on the 16th, that will not be the end of our work. In the course of their submissions, a number of people had said that WCB should be dissolved because it is ineffective. The answer to that is not to get rid of the community board but instead to enhance it.
In this regard the Governance Protocol Statement and the Terms of Reference between QLDC and WCB need to be scrutinised and enhanced, so as to give WCB the power, responsibility and funding it needs to help our community shape our place.
The reputation of WCB and the value it can add to our community also needs to be promoted and enhanced. To date, membership of a community board has been seen to be second rate compared with the status of a QLDC Councillor. This does a disservice to those people who have taken the time and made the effort to act in the best interests of our community.