High noon in the 'wild west'

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

The introduction of big-city style ticket representation to a small, mainly rural district council has done little to oil the wheels of democracy in the Western Bay of Plenty.

Bordering prosperous Tauranga, the Western Bay has been labelled "the wild west" by its neighbours during the ructions of the past three years.

A groundswell of dissatisfaction with the 1995-98 administration over resource-management issues resulted in the formation of the Resource Users Association, a group of rural ratepayers which won five of the 11 seats on the district council at the last election.

But they lacked local-body experience and ended up pitted against the old guard for a gruelling and frustrating three years.

It quickly became a "them and us" situation. The idealistic newcomers were labelled disruptive and obstructive and soon found that they could not simply eliminate unnecessary regulation, reduce rates and allow people to do what they wanted with their own land.

"Independent" councillors, led by entrenched second-term mayor Maureen Anderson, also found their efforts often stymied.

After 20 years in local government, Mrs Anderson has called it quits.

But the new mayor may be just as fettered. A second ticket, the Democracy Network in Action, has entered the fray with eight candidates and aims to provide an urban perspective.



The 212,000ha Western Bay of Plenty district, formed in 1989, was never going to be easy to govern.

There is strong parochialism in the urban pockets of Te Puke, Maketu, Waihi Beach, Katikati and Omokoroa.

Even its headquarters are outside the district, at Greerton.

Its elected representatives will struggle for another three years to finance and install the expensive infrastructure made necessary by the pace of growth. But in the end, amalgamation is the most likely future for the council.

Feature: Local body elections 2001

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