Progress results in the Kapiti local election show sitting Mayor K Gurunathan is back.

And the youngest-ever Councillor, climate campaigner Sophie Handford, of Paekakariki, has been elected — with four other new and progressive councillors.

Two of the new guard — Gwynn Compton and Martin Halliday — opposed Gurunathan for the Mayoralty.
Robb McCann is a Labour candidate ( the first on the Council) and a former contender for the Otaki seat in Parliament.

Thre results are bad news for the sitting councillors who voted for massive cuts in the libraries’ book budget.
McCann, Handford, Compton, Halliday and Randall all promised to move to immediately to restore the libraries’ book budget.
The detailed progress results are:
Mayor: K Gurunathan
Angela Buswell (District wide)
Gywnn Compton (District wide)
Jackie Elliott (District wide)
Janet Holborow (District wide)
Rob McCann (District wide)
James Cootes (OtakI)
Jocelyn Prvarov (Waikanae)
Martin Halliday (Paraparaumu)
Bernie Randall (Paraparaumu)
Sophie Hanford (Paekākāriki)
Sophie will shake things up
Sophie Handford (18) is a national leader of the School Strike 4 Climate campaign.
She says: ‘Our overarching demand is that the New Zealand Government does everything in its power to limit warming to no more than 1.5 degrees because that’s the known threshold for livable future on this planet.
We then have five demands that sit under that:
- Parliament declare a climate emergency
- All parties support and pass an ambitious Zero Carbon Act
- The Government ceases all exploration and extradition of fossil fuels
- The Government invests in building a renewable and regenerative economy now
- The Government gives practical effect to its responsibilities throughout the Pacific
No doubt Sophie will have closing the airport foremost in her agenda.It seems we have a climate emergency and flying anywhere contributes to this.
Well, well, well. I love how Sophie Handford has been devoted most of this article. As only a single person in Council, I wouldn’t be surprised if she finds it hard to push through her agenda. Time will tell if Council is a young person’s world too.