Well-known Green Party politician, Denise Roche recently won the by-election for a vacant seat on the Waitemata Local Board.
However, as Roche points out in a statement about her victory, “Campaigning over the summer period makes it hard to drive up interest, and certainly the heat and wet weather offered challenges. It was gratifying to see 10,000 people did vote.”
Roche sees her first job as getting to grips with the Local Board Plan and the up-coming council plan.
“I’m really passionate about the impact of plastic pollution on our waterways, beaches and the marine environment,” she told Ponsonby News.
Denise Roche has an extensive background in waste management and waste recovery.She is complimentary about the hard-working board members she will join, and will take whatever portfolio responsibilities Chair Pippa Coom and her board think are appropriate. Roche is an experienced politician with council and central government experience.
There were several able candidates vying for the seat. Roche scored 2917 votes in preliminary counting, just 200 votes ahead of Greg Moyle. Moyle will be disappointed not to have joined the board, which he has previously been a member of. He was the 'balance the board candidate', being not a City Vision person. Alan Matson, an independent and well-known local heritage expert, got 1936 votes and was third.
Waitemata is a large and busy ward, so there will be plenty of jobs for a well-qualified person like Denise Roche to get her teeth into.
We at Ponsonby News congratulate her on her victory and wish her well as one of our local board members. (JOHN ELLIOTT)