Friday, July 27, 2018
Since Sept 27, 1879
Retail $1.80 Home delivered from $1.15
YES for change
Alasdair Urquhart
Neil Brown
Liz McMillan
THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY
Lynette Lovett
www.guardianonline.co.nz
Diane Rawlinson
Leen Braam
Russell Ellis
Stuart Wilson
NO status quo New housing options P4
Thelma Bell
Peter Reveley
Selwyn Price
COUNCILLOR NUMBERS CUT
Tempers flare BY SUE NEWMAN
SUE.N@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Big names support rally MOTORING
The Ashburton District Council meeting table became a verbal battleground yesterday during a submissions hearing on cutting councillor numbers from 12 to nine at next year’s local body election. While eight councillors supported the move and two offered quiet opposition, councillor Selwyn Price was on fire, mounting a one man crusade to overturn the proposal. He objected to the reduced number on multiple levels – it would have a negative impact on representation, the
correct process had not been followed, consultation had been insufficient, information had been confusing and the community did not understand what they were being asked, he said. Price accused the council of leading the public and of asking open ended questions to which the only answer was a yes or no. The result – a resounding yes for change – could not be taken as a mandate to cut numbers, he said. Chairman, deputy mayor Neil Brown had his work cut out to contain Price’s constant interruptions and his incessant calls of point of order when other
councillors spoke. When Price suggested that submitters supporting the change did not understand what they were doing and that the council didn’t know what those submitters were actually thinking, it proved too much for Stuart Wilson. “We’re not here to criticise everyone who said yes. We don’t know what they were thinking. We’re here to think independently, not pick holes in every comment,” Wilson said
CONTINUED
P2
Ph 03 307 7900 to subscribe!
www.guardianonline.co.nz