Fran Wilde to resign as councillor before elections

Regional Councillor Fran Wilde

Former chairwoman of Greater Wellington Regional Council Fran Wilde says she plans to resign as councillor before the next election, citing ineffective solutions at regional council.

Ms Wilde stepped down from her position as chairwoman of GWRC after the Wellington super-city plan was scrapped in June, and has since secured a new role as chair of the Remuneration Authority - a role which determines the salary of government officials including councillors.

She announced her planned resignation yesterday, acknowledging the conflict of interest her current position as councillor presented to her new role on the authority.

She also cited "less effective solutions" at the regional council for her decision. "I ran for office at the last election because I was committed to gaining a more effective form of local government in our region," she said. "A form where local decisions could be truly made by communities and big, expensive projects would be delivered regionally.

"However, now that we are back to considering less effective solutions, this term on council would definitely have been my last."

She said she feels privileged to have had "very strong" support from the voting public in Wellington City but will "have to leave regional council prior to the 2016 election".

"I want to make any gap in my constituency as short a time as possible," she said. "However, I have made it clear to colleagues on the authority that I will not make any decisions on local government, even if they do not apply to me, while I am still on the regional council."

South Wairarapa mayor Adrienne Staples said, "Fran has tremendous experience in local government and state services-type situations because of her career.

"She will bring that experience to the role."

Mrs Staples said she had been initially concerned over the pecuniary conflict of interest but "if she's stepping down as councillor then there's no conflict".

Carterton mayor John Booth said there had been a few comments "being made around the traps" that having lost the chair [of Greater Wellington] Ms Wilde would be looking at different options in her life.

"If you put the governance thing to one side, there have been a lot things that have been done in Wairarapa with Fran as chair that have moved things along over here," he said.

As a property owner in Morison's Bush, she was "in a position to see things", he said.

"She has her heart over here in Wairarapa."

Wairarapa Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stephanie Gundersen-Reid said Ms Wilde loved Wairarapa and always had its best intentions at heart. "I believe she's done a great job on the regional council, and I wish her all the best for her future."

Ms Wilde was the champion for the Local Government Commission's proposal to amalgamate the nine Wellington councils, and the regional council, under a one-council "super-city" banner.

But Ms Wilde struggled to convince Wairarapa councils and the Wairarapa public to support joining up with Wellington, Hutt City, Upper Hutt, Porirua and Kapiti.

The proposal ran into heavy opposition across the region, and in June the commission abandoned the proposal following public submissions which showed 89 per cent were against a super-city.

Soon after, Ms Wilde quit as chairwoman after nine councillors signed a letter of no confidence in her.