Our councils hold a lot of power when it comes to deciding things like river protection, fossil fuel extraction and the sustainable (or not) future of our region. To help Taranaki residents decide who to vote for, we asked our 107 district and regional council candidates (less 3 who didn’t have email addresses) to answer 12 short questions. Many did not respond but those who did had very interesting answers which are encouraging to read. We would like to thank the 19 candidates who took the time to respond. Below are their quick responses to the first 7 questions. Long answers to all the 12 questions can be found in the PDF document at the bottom of this post.

New Plymouth District Council

Eleven candidates filled out our questionnaire: Keith Allum, Shaun Biesiek, Fiona Clark, Teresa Goodin, Dympna Hart, Daniel Keighley, Kath Lauderdale, Barbara McPhillips, Kevin Moore, Craig Percy and Chris Wilkes. Click on the image below to enlarge it to view their answers.

Taranaki Regional Council

Two candidates, Rex Hendry and Sarah Roberts, filled out our questionnaire.

South Taranaki District Council

Five candidates filled out our questionnaire: Clem Coxhead, Gareth Kahui, Graham O’Brien, Brian Roach and Michael Self. Click on the image below to enlarge it to view their answers.

Stratford District Council

Only one candidate – Graham Kelly – filled out our questionnaire.

To view their full answers to all 12 questions click here: Taranaki Local Body Elections 2013 Questionnaire