The three-ward, 11 councillor proposal for the Western Bay of Plenty District is approved by the Local Government Commission as better fitting the needs of the Western Bay.

The District will be split into three wards consisting of the Eastern ward (Te Puke and Maketu), Central (Kaimai, Omokoroa and Te Puna) and Western (Waihi Beach, Katikati and Matakana Island), replacing the existing five-ward, 12-councillor structure.

The commission announced its decision on Monday, saying three-wards will better fit the future needs of Western Bay and, in conjunction with community boards, help achieve effective representation.

The new representation arrangement gives welcome clarity and certainty as Council heads into the local boy elections in October this year, says Western Bay Mayor Ross Paterson.

'While there is concern among some communities that their individual needs and aspirations may be overlooked through the ward merger, I'm convinced the councillors elected to their respective areas will be all the more determined to ensure that does not happen under this new structure,” says Ross.

'Council went through a long process of deliberation, community consultation, submissions and hearings to get to the proposal for a three ward merger and a reduction in councillors from 12 to 11,'' says Ross.

'In our submission to the Commission late last year Council made it clear that its proposal aimed to meet future challenges, achieve a fairer balance of political representation while still recognising natural communities of interest.

'The Commission clearly sees the proposal as the only way to achieve the fairest and most effective way for the District to be represented politically.”

By retaining the community boards as they are, Ross says the positive links between Council and local communities will continue.

The new arrangement means that the Eastern Ward drops from five to four councillors, Western Ward will have three and Central has four. This equates to a councillor per population ratio of Western 3:4055; Central; 4:4093 and Eastern 4:4317. The five community boards are unchanged.

The three-ward model gives a clearer delineation of roles and responsibilities between councillors and community boards as well as supporting the duty of councillors to represent the district's interests at large.

The Commission noted that the Council already adopts a three-area approach to the planning, funding and delivery of many services.

The Commission also suggested that the names `eastern', `central' and western' could be more appropriately named `Katikati-Waihi Beach'; `Kaimai' and Maketu-Te Puke' to enable electors to better identify with their ward and to encourage voter turnout.

Under the requirements of the Local Electoral Act Council must review its political representation every six years to ensure fair representation. As the last review was in 2007, Council had to undertake a review before the 2013 triennial elections.

The Act stipulates that every councillor should represent a similar number of people, but the ratio was out of kilter in the Western Bay.