Elected members from the City Council and its six community boards have met several times this year as part of a review of representation. At their regular meeting last month, councillors voted to consult the public on a new system which would result in the number of city councillors being reduced from 24 to 16, suppor ted by eight community boards of six members. Each of the boards would have four elected members and two appointed - the councillors representing that ward.

The proposal would not alter the city-wide system for the election of the mayor. At present Christchurch City is divided into 12 wards, with the voters from each electing a pair of councillors and three community board members. The dozen wards are paired to form the city's six community boards, which are made up of six board members and three councillors appointed by the Council.

The proposed representation scheme has been publicly notified and is open for public comment until 14 October. On p5 there is a map showing the proposed ward/community board boundaries and information about how to make a submission on the issue. If there are no submissions about the Council's proposal it would automatically become the system used for the October 2004 city council and community board elections.

Any submissions that are received would be heard and considered by the Council's Strategy and Finance Committee early in November. By 18 November, the committee must decide if it will amend the proposal. It would again make a public notification of its decision, and of any changes and the reasoning behind its decisions.

If in November the committee makes changes to the current proposal, there is a second right for anyone to appeal. That includes people or groups which took part in the current submissions process. The deadline for this second phase of the public-feedback process is 20 December. Any second-round appeals would be sent by the City Council to the Local Government Commission for afinal decision. That decision would be made by 11 April next year and would be binding on the City Council for the 2004 elections.