Maori aspirations for a ward seat on Tauranga City Council have been knocked back for another six years thanks to a unanimous vote against the recommendation from the Tangata Whenua committee.

Mayor Stuart Crosby says the current good relations are a reason why there shouldn't be a Maori seat, and he believes it would damage the current relationship and represent a 'big step backwards”.

Hopes for a Maori seat on the council have suffered a blow.

He says: 'I really believe if we pass this it would be very damaging, the time is not right.” Councillor Bill Grainger also insists the voting rights for a Maori seat would be unfair.

'Why should I have greater authority on the general roll than on the Maori Roll?” asks Bill. 'It doesn't add up and it's a little unfair.”

Bev Edlin says there no guarantee the councillor on the Maori seat would even be Maori. The representative has to be appointed by the Maori community, but that person doesn't have to be of Maori descent.

And John Robson says arguments based on fear and guilt are not a good basis for making decisions as they fail to recognise the validity of arguments on the other side.

'I think where we are at is a place on the journey,” he says. 'That's where we are - currently a good place - and I'm not wise enough to know for certain where a better place is.”

Steve Morris says Winston Peters and Simon Bridges were both elected to parliament from Tauranga because of what they stood for, not their genetics.

As a result of the vote the council is required to publicly notify the right of five per cent of the electors to demand a poll on Maori representation by November 30.

Based on the number of electors enrolled and eligible to vote in the 2013 triennial election, this represents 4,237 electors. A public demand for a poll is required to be provided to council within 90 days from the date of notification.

The poll is required to be undertaken no later than May 21, 2015, and would cost around $170,000. The outcome will be binding for the next two triennial elections.

Maori are projected to account for over one-quarter of the growth of the Bay of Plenty Region between now and 2021. Over the next two decades, young Maori and Pasifika adults will together account for around one-third of the nation's labour market entrants.

About 21 per cent, or one fifth of the Bay of Plenty workforce is of Maori ethnicity, yet half the unemployed people in the Bay of Plenty were Maori.

Maori aged 15-24 years now account for almost 40 per cent of all Bay of Plenty labour market entrants and are also most represented in growth in unemployed statistics.