With nine years on council and a current term as Western Bay of Plenty Deputy Mayor, John Scrimgeour thinks it's time to take on the top job.

He is running for mayor in the Local Body Elections this October. John decided to vie for the mayoralty to continue the work he and the other councillors have achieved 'for the good of the district”.

'We've worked pretty hard as a council to address issues over the years in terms of debt and creating opportunities for growth and development in the district and maintaining up-to-date and compliant systems for services like water and wastewater,” says John.

The 69-year-old is proud of being able to work with people on an individual level to overcome their problems as well seeing the Tauranga Eastern Link realised during his tenure so far.

He'd like to see further progress on the Takitimu North Link so it extends all the way to Ōmokoroa. Construction recently started on stage one of the four-lane corridor that begins in Te Puna and will finish at Takitimu Drive in Tauriko.

'We also need to look at issues further north, there are great difficulties in Katikati in terms of traffic build-up and getting through the town at times.

'But similarly, at certain times, Te Puke can be pretty clogged up with traffic, which is essentially an outcome of the huge growth of our kiwifruit industry.”

The deputy mayor says ideally a bypass in Katikati would be great but if it's not achievable then other mechanisms to get traffic off the main street are needed. He's also 'really keen” to see the Rangiuru business park up and running, which has been planned for 20 years.

Three Waters

When asked his opinion on Three Waters reforms, John says he's not opposed because it is going to happen – but he's hesitant to say he's in favour of it. 'I'm accepting of the fact that Central Government has decided to act,” says John.

'The onus is now on us as councils to manage to the changes they put in place so that it doesn't disadvantage our ratepayers.

'In Western BOP our ratepayers can be very proud of the fact that successive councils have worked hard to put in place up-to-date facilities that are compliant with regional council requirements.

'That's come at big cost to our ratepayers and we have to make sure that we're not disadvantaged having done that, versus other councils who've sat on their hands.”

The reforms will see drinking, waste and storm water managed by four regional entities instead of the nation's 67 councils.

The Pongakawa dairy farmer says the plan the Government has put forward isn't what he would have developed.

'Rather than four large entities, I would have preferred to see smaller groupings, perhaps grouped more along regional council boundary lines.”

Grave concerns

The Weekend Sun has been asking mayoral candidates their thoughts on amalgamating Western Bay of Plenty District Council and Tauranga City Council.

John says there are opportunities for efficiencies and working together but he has 'grave concerns” about how smaller communities would be represented. 'The concern I have that the voice of our small communities across the Western BOP district would be drowned out by those of the people in the city.

'I'd want some to see some systems put in place to ensure Western BOP people got a fair deal.”

With his longstanding career as a dairy farmer and three terms on council, John thinks he's well placed to represent the needs of the community.

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.