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Proposed electoral boundary changes released today will see the Bay of Plenty electorate lose the Te Puke township and its surrounding western area to Rotorua – which is currently under quota.

If the change goes ahead people of Te Puke will have to turn to Rotorua MP Todd McClay for their link to Central Government instead of fellow National Party member Bay of Plenty Electorate MP Tony Ryall.

A map outlining the newly proposed electoral boundaries.

The Tauranga electorate will also lose small area – between Pyes Pa, Waimapu and Te Ranga – to the Bay of Plenty electorate, as a compensation for it giving up a chunk to Rotorua.

The Representation Commission is proposing the new electorate boundaries for the next two general elections, releasing them today for public comment.

Nationally, 43 electorates are facing changes and an additional general electorate is up for creation in Auckland. Twenty general electorates and the seven Maori electorates have been left unchanged.

Bay of Plenty Electorate MP Tony Ryall today told Sunlive he is 'very disappointed” the Te Puke township is set to move out of the Bay of Plenty electorate, but is sure Todd can do a good job.

'The thing with boundary changes is it's always a numbers game, but they can be very disruptive for some people.”

Asked if it seemed odd that more of the Western Bay is moving out of the Bay of Plenty electorate, Tony says 'it's inevitable”.

'The Western Bay of Plenty is growing at such a rate that it's getting too big for just two electorates. Todd [McClay] is used to having the Maketu, Pongakawa and Otamarakau areas, which have been his for the last five years – it's [the proposed changes] just a question of him getting used to more of the area.”

Te Puke Economic Development Group managing director Mark Boyle does not think the proposed new Rotorua electorate, taking in his township, changes anything in Te Puke.

'I don't believe changing the general electorate boundaries really has much of an impact on our relationships with our neighbours.”

Mark says both Tony and Todd have offices in Te Puke.

'Currently, they both service parts of Te Puke – so I don't see it as being a problem.”

Tauranga MP Simon Bridge says, for his electorate, it only means a 'slight shrinking” in one area – namely the urban area of Pyes Pa.

'For me, it's a bit sad to lose what's a lovely part of our city, but that's the way it goes with population growth.”

Asked if Pyes Pa residents' representation will alter, Simon would like to think they are going from one good MP to another.

Simon is also not worried about losing a small portion of potential voters in the general election next year.

'I think it's a measure of growth in Tauranga and intensification in some places, namely The Lakes and Bethlehem areas – so only my electorate's geographic boundaries have shrunk a little.”

In the Representation Commission's document ‘Proposed Electoral Distrcits November 2013', reasons for the Bay of Plenty and Tauranga electorates both losing ground to the Rotorua electorate is due to both being over quota while Rotorua's current electorate is under quota.

'Bay of Plenty is near five per cent over permitted quota and is projected to increase further,” says the document.

'Tauranga electorate is marginally over the five per cent quota threshold. A population of 5000 has been moved from the south eastern end of the Tauranga electorate into Bay of Plenty to compensate for its loss of population to Rotorua.”

Representation Commission chair Bernard Kendall says the commission's role is to review electorate boundaries to ensure the population in each is broadly the same.

'Where possible we have tried to retain existing electorate boundaries and avoid splitting communities.

'The proposed electorate boundaries are now available for the public to comment on. People can make objections and the Commission will take these into account when deciding the final boundaries.”

Objections close at 10am Monday, December 23.

'Any objections should be based on the statutory criteria the Commission must use,” says Bernard.

'This means that it's important that people read the reasons for the proposed boundary changes before they make an objection.”

The commission will summarise objections and make them publicly available on January 14. The public can then make counter objections until January 29, following which the commission will conduct public hearings in February. Final boundaries will be announced by Easter 2014.

The document says the splitting of small communities has been avoided where possible and the commission has endeavoured to place communities in the same electorate as the adjoining areas with which it has the most interaction.

From Electoral Map:

The current Rotorua electoral boundary meets the Bay of Plenty boundary just past SH5 and cuts across to Pyes Pa Rd, then to Mangatoi and Te Ranga (which are both just in the Rotorua boundary). It runs Parallel to No 1 Rd (which is just in the Bay of Plenty boundary), then crosses to Te Matai Rd, down John Bird Rd to Brown Rd – cutting across to Rangiuru Rd, following it to SH2 and coming back down Kaituna River Rd before heading to Bell Rd and out to sea at Ford Rd before Maketu.

The proposed new Rotorua electorate will extend from its current boundary on Pyes Pa Rd out to Omanawa Falls, back to Pyes Pa Rd, to Oropi – then taking in some of Ohauiti, passing Ohauiti Rd to Kaitemako then bordering Welcome Bay (in the Tauranga electorate), to Ngapeke and travelling Welcome Bay Rd to SH2 near Bell Rd.

This means the Rotorua electorate will take a large portion of the Western Bay from Pyes Pa over Te Puke and encroach nearly into Welcome Bay – currently in the Bay of Plenty electorate.The rest of the Bay of Plenty electorate boundary remains the same.

Tauranga electorate's current boundary circles round from Mount Maunganui passing Te Puna to Tauriko before coming back round by Te Ranga and into Welcome Bay, across the water to Te Maunga before meeting the shore by Girven Rd (Mount Maunganui).

The new proposed Tauranga electorate looks only set to lose a small area between Pyes Pa, Waimapu and Te Ranga to the Bay of Plenty electorate – a compensation for its giving up a chunk to Rotorua.