Ashburton has some Topp candidates to chose from

The Team Reporter from The Press

From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:

A dame, a DJ, farmers, and plenty of fresh faces are among the potential new Ashburton District Councillors.

Dame Lynda Topp is set to take on politics after stepping forward as one of the new candidates vying for a seat on the council.

She is best known for being one-half of the Topp Twins with her sister Dame Jools. Earlier this year the duo announced that they were both fighting breast cancer.

On August 4 the twins shared an update on their Facebook page that said “we are both alive and kicking” and then just over a week later Topp has thrown herself into an election campaign.

She said she had been having weekly chemotherapy sessions and spending a lot of time on the couch when her election enrolment update arrived in the mail.

“It prompted me to think about it and I talked to a few people who said I should go for it,” Topp said.

“All you can do is have a goal and get on with life.

“It’s something I can look forward to and give back to the community, a community that has been so supportive of me in the past year.”

It’s her first official run at local office having previously had a satirical tilt at the Auckland mayoralty.

“Several years ago my character Camp Mother ran for the Auckland mayoralty with Camp Leader as the campaign manager.

“In the end, we pulled out as the polling was looking like we might go close to being the mayor of Auckland. But we only did it as a big publicity stunt to get more candidates in the Auckland area.”

Topp joins a host of new names seeking a seat on the council which is set for a changing of the guard with Stuart Wilson, Angus McKay, Dianne Rawlinson, and John Falloon not standing for re-election.

That means at least four new councillors will be announced on October 8, but that number could be higher with plenty of new candidates stepping up across all three wards, while current mayor Neil Brown has a challenger in local businessman Jeff Swindley.

Topp is standing against incumbents Liz McMillan and Rodger Letham in the Western Ward.

The Ashburton Ward is set to be hotly contested with 12 candidates vying for the five vacancies.

Sitting councillors Carolyn Cameron and Leen Braam are in the running along with two former councillors, Thelma Bell, who missed out in the last election, and Russell Ellis who was unable to stand in the last election after a technical error on his nomination form.

Janet Glassey and Shfire Sapphire were the final additions to the Ashburton Ward candidate list joining eight other potential newcomers -Tony Todd, Carol Johns, Phill Hooper, Bev Skates, Brie Burgess and Hayden Tasker.

The Eastern Ward has incumbent Lynette Lovett joined by Richard Wilson, Rob Mackle and Keith Townshend.

Six candidates are running for the Methven Community Board’s five seats.

The Braided Rivers Community Trust will also have an election with nine nominations for the six vacancies.

Gerard Rushton, Chantelle Quinn, Kevin Clifford, and Sapphire all entered the race before the cut-off on Friday.

There are also three candidates standing for the two seats in Environment Canterbury’s Mid Canterbury Ōpākihi Regional Constituency.

Incumbents Ian Mackenzie and John Sunckell along with NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers president Peter Trolove.

Where they stand

Mayor: Neil Brown, Jeff Swindley.

Western Ward (2): Rodger Letham, Liz McMillan, Lynda Topp

Eastern Ward (2): Lynette Lovett, Richard Wilson, Rob Mackle, Keith Townshend.

Ashburton Ward (5): Russell Ellis, Leen Braam, Hayden Tasker, Bev Skates, Tony Todd, Thelma Bell, Brie Burgess, Carol Johns, Phill Hooper, Janet Glassey, Carolyn Cameron. Shfire Sapphire.

Methven Community Board (5): Kelvin Holmes, Richie Owen, Allan Lock, Robin Jenkinson, Megan Fitzgerald, Adam Preston.

Braided River Community Trust (6): Tim Silva, Chris Robertson, Robert Harnett, Kerry Clough, Kieran Breakwell, Gerard Rushton, Shfire Sapphire, Chantelle Quinn, Kevin Clifford.

Voting opens: September 16