Election 2022: Western Bay councillor Don Thwaites confirms mayoral bid

Western Bay of Plenty District Council mayoral candidate Don Thwaites. Photo / NZME

Western Bay of Plenty councillor Don Thwaites has confirmed he is running for mayoralty this year.

Thwaites is no stranger to the Western Bay of Plenty District Council. He has served four-and-a-half terms as a councillor and has been involved in some of the council's biggest decisions in recent years such as Three Waters, Panepane Point, and whether to adopt a Māori ward to the council.

This is also Thwaites' second push for the mayoralty, which will be open to new blood this year when existing mayor Garry Webber steps down after the October elections. Thwaites campaigned for the top seat in 2016 and while unsuccessful, he claimed the highest ward vote of councillors and has remained in the role since.

Asked if his years of experience in council would hinder rather than help his campaign, Thwaites said it would be the people who would decide.

"Twelve years is plenty, it's time to step up now," Thwaites said.

"At 59 I reckon I'm still in the game. I'm years away from superannuation. I came into it quite young. But it will be the people who say whether they want me there."

Western Bay of Plenty councillors Don Thwaites and John Scrimgeour (right), pictured during the council's swearing in ceremony in 2019. Photo / Andrew Warner

In 2009, the long-time Te Puna resident won a byelection to represent the Kaimai ward, which he continues to represent today. Thwaites also chairs the council's performance and monitoring committee.

Thwaites said there were big issues facing local government. In December, Thwaites voted unsuccessfully to formally challenge the Government's Three Waters proposal.

"I've got serious questions about Three Waters, full stop. When are they going to start subsidising us? It's all gone quiet now."

Thwaites, who in recent years also voted for a Māori ward seat and returning Panepane Point to iwi, said he would also stand firm on keeping the Western Bay as its own territorial authority. Talk of amalgamation with Tauranga City Council has floated around local civic circles since 1989 and the region's rapid population growth has refreshed the notion, he said.

"I just don't think it's good overall," Thwaites said.

"The further you get away from the CBD, the more you are forgotten."

Thwaites believed his councillor experience meant he was better connected with Western Bay residents, particularly when it came to the key issues for the different areas in the district.

"I've been listening for 12 years. At Maketu, it's carrying out the community centre, in Katikati, it's the bypass they've been promised for 80 years. That's why I think amalgamation wouldn't be good, a place like Katikati would just be forgotten."

These "unfinished projects" which also included the Omokoroa college and sports fields sat high on Thwaites' priority list.

"Let's finish them."