Tauranga City should be divided into two electoral seats – one for the east and one for the west, says a former Tauranga City Councillor.

Larry Baldock made the comments in a submission opposing the proposed electoral boundary changes that will move Tauriko from Tauranga to the Bay of Plenty electorate.

Larry Baldock opposes the proposal to move Tauriko from Tauranga to the Bay of Plenty electorate.

The Electoral Commission this week released details about the 409 submissions received nationwide to the proposed electoral changes. Five of those submissions are from Tauranga.

The commission proposes chopping 5000 people from the Tauranga electorate at Tauriko and moving them into the Bay of Plenty electorate to compensate for the Bay of Plenty electorate's loss of population to Rotorua.

This is because the Commission has taken 9900 former BOP electorate voters and placed them in the Rotorua electorate to compensate for the Commission's decision to take 9400 voters from Maketu, Paengaroa and Kawerau from Rotorua to prop up the declining East Coast.

The aim is to spread voters evenly throughout the electorates of New Zealand.

Larry says the same aim can be achieved by moving Arataki from Tauranga to the Bay of Plenty, as Arataki already has a community of interest with the Papamoa Coast, whereas Tauriko does not.

The Electoral Commission is supposed to consider communities of interest and natural boundaries when making electoral changes, but in reality it ends up being a numbers game, says Larry.

'The legislation is the problem, because it says divide the population by the number of electorates plus or minus five percent,” says Larry.

'The point I'm trying to make is that in the very near future Tauranga should be a place where we have a new electorate. Instead of always pushing the numbers all the way up to Auckland, and creating new electorates up there, they should start looking at other growth areas, and Tauranga is one of them.

'We really ought to have a Tauranga East and West, and then probably a sort of rural electorate around Tauranga that Te Puke might be the centre of.”

The Electoral Commission starts in the south and works its way north, and Larry says by the time they get to the East Coast they are making decisions that put Kawerau, Edgecumbe and Matata in the East Coast electorate. This means people who live in the Bay of Plenty have to travel to Gisborne to see their MP.

'It's like a stack of dominoes, they start in the south and work their way up around the coast, but it overrides the whole community of interest, which is meant to be among their criteria.”

Under the proposed new boundaries Te Puke will move from Bay of Plenty to become part of Rotorua. Maketu will also become part of the East Coast.

'The idea that Te Puke is going to Rotorua is ridiculous. I didn't object to that because I don't live there,” says Larry.

Tauranga independent MP Brendan Horan says once again Tauranga has decreased standing nationally.

'Here we have an electoral commission wanting to put Te Puke into Rotorua and Maketu into Whakatane. So there's no there's no geographical sense or community of interest to these changes,” says Brendan.

'I'm asking for people to be given another opportunity to make submissions.”

The current boundary changes will mean that people in Te Puke will have to drive to Rotorua to see MP Todd McClay.

'How's an MP from Rotorua really understand what's happening in Te Puke,” says Brendan.

'In Auckland they are very geographically specific. Tauranga is at the bottom of the chain, all going by numbers. We need people to stand up, and say Hey?”

Brendan made submissions to the Electoral Commission last November in Wellington.

The Electoral Commission's task is to keep electorate numbers at about 59,731, plus or minus five per cent (2986). The existing Rotorua electorate is under quota and declining. The existing electorates of Bay of Plenty and Tauranga are over quota.

A large area including Kawerau and the remaining area of the Whakatane District Council, with a population of 5000, has been added from Rotorua. Further population of 4400 has been added from the coastal belt, including Maketu, with that southern boundary set at the boundary between Rotorua and Western Bay of Plenty districts.

Larry is among several objectors suggesting the Tauranga East/West split using the harbour as the boundary.

An objection from P.Dey states the proposed boundary between Tauranga and the BOP does not represent community groupings.

He suggests using the harbour as a boundary to create a Tauranga East – including Mount Maunganui, Omanu, Windermere – and Tauranga West – including Te Puna, Omokoroa and Whakamarama.

From the Rotorua electorate Pim de Monchy objects to Ohauiti, Oropi and Waitao being included in the Rotorua electorate.

These communities are linked to Tauranga in terms of a community of interest, the road network and iwi connections, says Pim.

Pim suggests shifting the boundary south-east to the Kaimai and Otawa Ranges, placing Ohauiti, Oropi and Waitao in a Tauranga affiliated electorate, while keeping the links Te Puke and Maketu have with Rotorua.

To read more about the electoral boundaries and submissions click here.