Western Bay of Plenty District Council is calling on you to show how much you care about what happens in our District by enrolling to vote before Friday, August 12.

More people enrolled means more people who can vote on October 8 and the better the vision, ideas, and outcomes are for everyone.

'Let's show our incoming councillors that we care about this place and vote,” says Chief Executive Officer John Holyoake.

'We've got some exciting decisions to make in the next three years and we need strong and decisive leaders. It's more important than ever for you to have your say on who has the privilege of sitting at the decision-making table.

'These people will not only represent the community with some major changes coming for Council – Three Waters, the Resource Management Act amendment, and the Future for Local Government review – but work to enhance community wellbeing.”

Enhancing community wellbeing is part of Council's strategic priorities. What does that look like? Working even closer with the community, crown, and tangata whenua to develop outcomes that serve everyone, fostering a true partnership with tangata whenua that creates equity by working in partnership with Māori.

Council aspires to make real difference for housing in the Western Bay and be recognised as an enabler in housing outcomes, delivering the right homes across the Western Bay, supported by social and hard infrastructure.

'We are committed to working alongside the community on key issues such as housing access and affordability issues in our District and responding to the needs and interests of Māori communities.

'To see positive outcomes in the life and development of the District we can only achieve this and much more by working together, and that starts with this year's elections.”

To be eligible to enrol you must be 18 years or older, a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident, who lives in New Zealand and has lived in New Zealand for a year continuously at any time.

If you're Australian, Niuean, Tokelauan or a Cook Islander, you can enrol after you have lived in New Zealand continuously for 12 months or more.

If you are unsure if you are enrolled to vote, or need to update your enrolment details, there are a few ways this can be done. Do it online at vote.nz, or get an enrolment form sent to you by freepost by calling 0800 36 76 56, or freetext your name and address to 3676.

For more information on Western Bay's elections visit generationchange.nz