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Porirua City Council

Territorial authority of New Zealand

Summary

Territorial authority of New Zealand

Field	Value
name	Porirua City Council
native_name_lang	mi
coa_pic	File:Porirua coat of arms full achievement.svg
coa_caption	Porirua City Council coat of arms
logo_pic	File:Porirua City Council logo.png
house_type	City council
jurisdiction	Porirua
term_limits	None
preceded_by	Porirua Borough Council
leader1_type	Mayor
leader1
leader2_type	Deputy Mayor
leader3_type	Chief Executive
leader3	Wendy Walker
members	11One mayor, 10 councillors
political_groups1	* Labour (2)

*	border	darkgray}} Independent (9)
term_length	3 years
voting_system1	STV
last_election1	11 October 2025
next_election1	2028
meeting_place	16 Cobham Court, Porirua
website
footnotes

Independent (9)

The Porirua City Council is the territorial authority for the city of Porirua, New Zealand.

The council is made up of a mayor elected at-large and 10 councillors elected from two general wards (Onepoto General Ward and Pāuatahanui General Ward) and one Māori ward (Parirua Māori Ward). They are elected using a single transferable vote system in triennial elections, with the most recent election being held in 2025.

The current mayor is .

History

Local government in the Porirua basin began on 1 June 1854 with the Porirua Road Board being declared in the Wellington Provincial Council Gazette. Road boards were set up by the provincial governments to develop and maintain local and district roads.

The first election for the Porirua Road District, held under the District Highways Act 1856, took place on 20 September 1856. On 7 November 1864, the Takapu Road District was declared and wardens for the district were elected annually. The Wellington Highway District Board (Hutt County) was given control of the district in 1872.

In 1876, Makara and Porirua ridings were made part of the Karori-Makara Highway Board and elections were conducted. Later that year, Porirua was established as one of six ridings making up Hutt County, which in turn was established by the Counties Act 1876 as one of 12 counties which would replace the Wellington Province. It elected 2 councillors to the Hutt County Council.

In 1908, Makara County, an amalgamation of the Porirua riding with the Makara riding and Tawa, was separated from Hutt County. The first elections for Makara County were held on 28 January 1908.

Following the construction of a new business district on the site of the village of Porirua beginning in the 1950s, the autonomous Borough of Porirua was established on 1 September 1962, the day after Makara County was abolished. The rest of what had been the Makara County was re-incorporated into Hutt County as the Makara Riding. Tawa had already separated from the county to form its own Town Board in 1951.

Porirua was declared to be a city in 1965 by Governor-general Sir Bernard Fergusson.

On 1 April 1973, the city of Porirua was expanded to include large areas to the north-east and some to the south, transferred from Hutt County, along with Mana Island. In 1988, it was further expanded to include the Horokiri riding, which contained most of Whitby and large rural areas, before Hutt County was abolished in the 1989 local government reforms, which transferred to Wellington City most of the southern fringe areas that had been added in 1973 – notably the Takapu Valley and Arohata.

A [[cadastral map]] showing the boundaries of Porirua city in 1969

Council and committees

The elected mayor and councillors provide governance for the city by setting the policy direction of the council, monitoring its performance, representing the city's interests, and employing the Chief Executive.

The Chief Executive is in charge of the administration of the council and employs all other council staff to achieve its strategic priorities. The Chief Executive is currently Wendy Walker.

Current councillors

Position	Name	Ward	Affiliation (if any)
Mayor	Anita Baker	At-large	Independent}}"
Councillor	Kylie Wihapi	Parirua Māori ward	Independent}}"
Councillor	Mike Duncan	Onepoto general ward	Independent}}"
Councillor	Geoff Hayward	Onepoto general ward	New Zealand Labour Party}}"
Councillor	Hemi Fermanis	Onepoto general ward	Independent}}"
Councillor	Kathleen Filo	Onepoto general ward	Independent}}"
Councillor	Izzy Ford	Onepoto general ward	Independent}}"
Councillor	Josh Trlin	Pāuatahanui general ward	New Zealand Labour Party}}"
Councillor	Ross Leggett	Pāuatahanui general ward	Independent}}"
Councillor	Nathan Waddle	Pāuatahanui general ward	Independent}}"
Councillor	Moira Lawler	Pāuatahanui general ward	Independent}}"

Committees

Committee	Chairperson	Deputy Chairperson
Council
Te Kaunihera o Porirua	Mayor Anita Baker	Deputy Mayor Kylie Wihapi
Te Puna Kōrero	Cr Ross Leggett	Cr Josh Trlin
Audit and Risk Committee
Komiti Tātari me te Mōrea	Warren Allen	Cr Nathan Waddle
Chief Executive’s Employment Committee
Komiti Whai Mahi a te Tumuaki	Cr Mike Duncan	Mayor Anita Baker
Dog Control Hearings Subcommittee
Komiti Iti mō Ngā Whakawātanga Whakahaere Kurī	Mayor Anita Baker
Porirua District Licensing Committee
Te Rōpū Tuku Raihana Waipiro o Porirua	Cr Kylie Wihapi	Cr Mike Duncan

Wards

The 10 councillors are elected from three wards: Onepoto General Ward, Pāuatahanui General Ward, and Parirua Māori Ward.

Candidates standing in the general wards are elected by voters registered on the general electoral roll, while those standing in the Māori ward are elected by voters registered on the Māori electoral roll.

Parirua Māori Ward

The Parirua Māori Ward elects 1 councillor and covers the whole city of Porirua.

The Parirua Māori Ward was established following a council vote in May 2021, a representation review and an appeal to the Local Government Commission which upheld its establishment.

Onepoto General Ward

The Onepoto General Ward elects 5 councillors and covers:

Rangituhi / Colonial Knob
Elsdon
Kenepuru
Mana Island
Onepoto
Porirua Central
Takapūwāhia
Tītahi Bay
Aotea
Ascot Park
Cannons Creek
Rānui
Waitangirua

Pāuatahanui General Ward

The Pāuatahanui General Ward elects 4 councillors and covers:

Camborne
Hongoeka
Judgeford
Karehana Bay
Mana
Paekākāriki Hill
Papakōwhai
Paremata
Pāuatahanui
Plimmerton
Pukerua Bay
Whitby

Civic symbols

Coat of arms

Porirua City was granted a Coat of Arms by the Earl Marshal of England on 1 December 1965. The city officially adopted the coat of arms via a bylaw on 27 November 1969.

Flag

Flag of Porirua

The city of Porirua first adopted a flag in 1978 following a competition for designs among local schools, with the winning design being submitted by John Mansfield of Papakowhai School. This flag consisted of a yellow cross on a green background with the coat of arms superimposed over it. After the 1989 local government reforms, the new Porirua City Council did not seek to continue use of this flag.

The present flag of Porirua was adopted on 30 September 1998. It has several blue stripes, and a green shape to symbolise the city's harbour and land. The canton optionally features the coat of arms.

Notable councillors

Whitford Brown, the first Mayor of Porirua
Ken Douglas, trade union leader
Ken Gray, All Black
Gary McCormick, poet, radio and television personality
Helen Smith, first member of the Values Party to be elected to local government
Rex Willing

References

"Our executive team". Porirua City Council.
"Councillors". Porirua City Council.
"NZ Elective Structures Since Colonisation". Porirua City Council.
(9 June 1854). "Proclamation". New Zealand Government Gazette (Province of Wellington).
(11 March 2010). "Roads – Funding road construction". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
"Hutt County Council". [[Wellington City Council]].
"The Hutt County Council". [[The Cyclopedia of New Zealand]].
"7 EDW VII 1907 No 28 Makara County". [[New Zealand Legal Information Institute]].
"Wellington places – Porirua". [[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]].
"Wellington region – New growth and attitudes: 1940–1975". [[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]].
"The break-up of Hutt County". [[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]].
"Wellington region – Government". [[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]].
"Porirua". [[An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand]].
"Boundaries of County of Hutt and City of Porirua Altered". [[New Zealand Gazette]].
"Porirua City Council Long-term Plan 2015–25 {{!}} Porirua – the local context". Porirua City Council.
"Hutt County Abolition Order 1988". [[New Zealand Gazette]].
"Governance – what your council does". Porirua City Council.
"Local Governance Statement 2023". Porirua City Council.
"2025 Triennial Elections DECLARATION OF RESULT". [[Porirua City Council]].
"Council committees". Porirua City Council.
"Wards Maps and Boundaries". Porirua City Council.
"Determination of representation arrangements to apply for the election of the Porirua City Council to be held on 8 October 2022". [[Local Government Commission (New Zealand).
"Two Council Wards". Porirua City Council.
"Coat of Arms (Archived)". Porirua City Council.
"Porirua City Flags". [[Porirua City Council]].
"City of Porirua flag".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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