The Dunstan ward will have an extra seat around the Otago Regional Council (ORC) table come the next local body election. 

At its meeting in Dunedin last week, the regional councillors voted 12-0 to increase the number of Dunstan ward councillors from three to four.

The Dunstan ward - which covers Central Otago, Queenstown and Wanaka - is represented by Councillors Alexa Forbes, Michael Laws and Gary Kelliher.

At the same time, the Dunedin constituency was stripped of one seat, dropping from six councillors to five.

The change was made as part of the regional council's required representation review for the region - including how many councillors there are and the areas they represent - which occurs every six years.

Population data supplied from Stats NZ indicated that following population growth since the last representation review in 2018, the Dunstan ward fell outside the +/- 10% margin of the average across the region, no longer meeting the legislative requirements for fair representation. 

Making up the full quota of 12 Councillors, there are two in the Molyneux ward and one in the Moeraki ward. 

The constituency boundaries did not change.

The Otago Regional Council constituency boundaries. Dunstan Ward has gained an additional councillor while Dunedin has lost one in the latest representation review. IMAGE: OTAGO REGIONAL COUNCIL