‘We need change’: Local govt agenda in the South Island’s tiniest towns

Last week the Sunday Star-Times travelled around small town New Zealand asking about the local body elections. This week reports from the south.

Sitting on the edge of eastern Southland, just south of Gore, sits tiny town, Wyndham; population about 600.

You can count on two hands the number of businesses in town and there are still homes less than $100,000 for sale.

Snow Geary has been here all his life. He was schooled here and has been a builder for 50 years, owning Geary Builders with his two brothers.

Geary has voted in the local elections every year since he was able and doesn’t mince his words. This year’s candidates, he says, bring nothing too special for the small town, predominantly supported by farmers.

‘‘Bloody hopeless. There are a couple that aren’t too bad in there, but they can’t do much.’’

Geary is unimpressed with the current crop of talent, too. ‘‘They need to fix the roads up for starters and stop going on about climate change.’’

Geary is 66 and his mother was once on the Southland Council. He says it has the same problem now as it did back then: finances. He says she was stymied by the budget, and red tape will do the same with this year’s flock.

‘‘They don’t seem to be able to do anything. They put patches on the roads that last for 10 minutes. They get useless p..... in to do the job, and they don’t do a good job. If I had done that, I wouldn’t be in business, would I?’’

Geary may be frank, but his main concern as a business owner is finding young people.

‘‘We need more... interested in doing work, [and] in the district. We want people who turn up every day.’’

Just 15 minutes up the road, Mataura, population 1700, is under Gore District Council.

Mataura often misses out to its bigger cousin up the road, says builder Adam Newton.

Newton is from Mataura originally and owns Adam Newton Building. Over the past two years Mataura has had the fastestgrowing house prices in Southland.

The average price now is about $300,000. Fifteen years ago Newton bought his for $70,000. He’s concerned about lack of development and the difficulty landowners have getting consent.

‘‘There’s been no thought put in to development in town, there’s no encouragement for development, and they make it too hard for people to subdivide. Mataura probably gets hard done by. Great space for development down here, but unfortunately there is that stigma as well.

‘‘We do need change. We need to be a bit more fiscally responsible with how the rates get spent, that’s been the biggest issue. Things do need to be done, but they do them short-handedly rather than long-term.’’

Last year the council spent $6 million, which was about $20,000 over budget, on its new offices.

‘‘With the amount they spent, they could have built something superior for the same price,’’ says Newton.

Incumbent Gore District mayor Tracy Hicks is seeking re-election for his seventh term. Also running for the mayoralty is first time candidate Ben Bell, a 23-year-old tech entrepreneur and former youth Wellingtonian of the year.

Newton characterises the council as stuck in its ways, but couldn’t put that down to Hicks, who has been there for over 25 years.

‘‘It’s a generational thing,’’ he suggests. ‘‘And you can’t land that squarely on the mayor. It is hard because they are constrained to how it is all set up. They can only do so much.’’

Twenty-five minutes north of Mataura, outside of Gore, farmer Blair Drysdale is the third generation on his property, at tiny Balfour, home to dairy, sheep, and beef farming – and for Drysdale, arable farming.

Drysdale has always taken a keen interest in local elections. He will be voting in the Southland District Council, but Drysdale thinks the boundaries need a rethink.

He believes getting rid of the smaller councils and having one Southland council along with Environment Southland would be a great way to get rid of additional spend.

‘‘Another thing Southland needs to address is the number of councillors we’ve got for our population. We need to combine into one, and get rid of middle management.

‘‘We have a lot of people behind computer desks – that isn’t all money well spent. I think it is probably time that was looked at.’’

A father-of-three and a former mechanic, Drysdale loves Balfour and says there is a lot of pride in it, with just over 100 people in the actual town itself. The school is filled with local farmers’ children. Much like back down in Wyndham, roading is an issue.

‘‘There are some good candidates who have put their hand up for Southland District mayor, and the council themselves. A lot have been doing some good work around northern Southland. I think the people there are going to represent us well.’’

Change would be good for Southland, as there hasn’t been much in some time.

‘‘People can keep talking all they like, but it is time a lot of policies were implemented.’’

‘‘We need to be a bit more fiscally responsible with how the rates get spent, that’s been the biggest issue. Things do need to be done, but they do them short-handedly rather than long-term.’’

Adam Newton