Candidates for mayor at live debate

Hastings residents will have the opportunity to decide who should be their mayor at a Meet Your Mayor debate tonight.

Those vying for the Hastings mayoralty are Lawrence Yule, Wayne Bradshaw and Simon Nixon.

The debate, organised by Hawke's Bay Today and Newstalk ZB in conjunction with Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce, will be held at the Karamu High School Hall at 6pm and moderated by Chamber of Commerce CEO Wayne Walford.

Hawke's Bay Today editor Andrew Austin said the newspaper and its radio partner, Newstalk ZB, had decided to host mayoral debates in a bid to give residents the opportunity to make up their minds. "We are pleased that the Chamber of Commerce has joined us in hosting these debates because we want voters to be able to hear the candidates for themselves."

He said the candidates would be able to tell voters what they planned to do if elected.

A straw poll of the audience will be conducted and the results published in Hawke's Bay Today. Readers are invited to send in questions for the candidates. They can be emailed to editor@hbtoday.co.nz and should be accompanied by a full name and address.

Entry will be a gold coin with proceeds going to Hawke's Bay Cancer Society. At the Napier mayoral debate held last week, $365 was raised for the charity. There will be extra parking available at Splash Planet.