McPhee eyes Greater Wellington regional council seat

BY PIERS FULLER - WAIRARAPA NEWS

A long time critic of the Greater Wellington Regional Council, Gary McPhee, is considering making a bid for office on the regional authority at the the local body elections later this year.

But the popular Carterton mayor says he still has a few things to wind up before this current term ends.

Mr McPhee feels that the region is heading towards having a unitary authority and he would like to see Wairarapa act now to secure self control, rather than be forced into a larger regional local government authority.

"If we don't do something, central government will do it to us, and I don't see why people in Wakefield St [Wellington] should have any pull over here at all. They don't live here  stay out of our bloody face and let us get on with it. We can do a lot more financially better," he says.

He signalled early in this triennium that this would be his last term as mayor and he has made no secret of his disdain for some of the decisions of the GWRC.

Although thinks are "ticking along in Carterton quite nicely" Mr McPhee says he would still like to "nail a few things shut" before the elections later in the year. The town hall centre is a particularly important project that he would like to see progressed.

He said speaking to other mayors around the country, they could not believe how cheaply Carterton planned to build the proposed community centre and town hall.

He has been frustrated by a few councillors and community groups that have opposed the project.

"I would just like to see Carterton, just like the rest of the country, having a town hall.

"I don't see why people think we don't deserve one  we do."

He compared Carterton's proposal to Westport's plans to spend $22 million on their town complex.

"We're only spending $5.8 [million] and only a million of that is coming from rates.

"It's quite frustrating to be honest. [It's] people that obviously don't give a damn about the future of Carterton."