Garth Ellingham rang me in the middle of 2025 to ask my advice about standing for the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board.
I was chuffed to get the call and thrilled that a relatively young person was thinking about putting their hand up for the community. My advice to Garth was do it. What I didn’t tell him was that I thought he had no chance of being elected, being a relatively unknown independent candidate. But stand he did, and I was very surprised and also thrilled when he was elected with a very strong mandate.
I have made no secret of my personal belief that local board members should not stand time and time again and become a fixture in the role. I believe it is much healthier for people to do a maximum of two terms (six years) and then let others have a go. It should not be a career. I caught up with Garth during December to see how Local Board life was going, what his aims are for the term, and to introduce Channel Mag readers to one of our newest (and youngest) local board members.
By Aidan Bennett
What made you decide to stand, and what did you mean by your campaign message? "I'm frustrated with politics and the lack of progress. I believe it’s time for younger voices to step up."
That message obviously came from a place of frustration, but also care. I care deeply about people and the environment, and I feel like we aren’t heading in the right direction. Like a lot of people, I see the same issues being talked about again and again, but not enough progress is being made. I’m a big believer that if you’re unhappy with something, you shouldn’t just sit around complaining about it; you should try to do something about it. Too often at the moment, we have plenty of keyboard warriors, but not enough people willing to put their hand up, get involved, and take responsibility. For me, that was the core of my campaign message about choosing to care. When I talked about younger voices stepping up, it wasn’t about age for the sake of it. It was about bringing in new perspectives, more diversity, and people willing to challenge how things have always been done. Politics can feel intimidating, and people are often warned off getting involved, but I felt that using that as an excuse was a cop-out. Standing was my way of backing my own words. Instead of sitting on the sidelines, frustrated, I wanted to step up, do the work, and hopefully encourage others to do the same.
Did you think you would be elected?
Yes, quietly I did. I’m confident in my own abilities, so I wouldn’t put my hand up unless I believed I had a genuine chance of getting in. I looked at the situation and asked myself who I would vote for and what I was looking for in leadership, and a lot of it came from frustration at not seeing what I felt was missing.
You must be thrilled with the result.
Yes, I’m obviously thrilled with the result. Running as an independent and doing this for the first time, I knew I was taking a bit of a risk and probably surprising a few people. I didn’t follow a lot of the usual campaign playbooks, partly because I hadn’t done this before and partly because I had limited time and resources. I just did it my own way, with the philosophy that if it worked, it was meant to be. What made it especially meaningful was realising the result reflected not just me, but my family, my friends, and the connections we’ve built in this community over many years. There was a real sense of trust from people backing me, and having them come up genuinely excited about the outcome was incredibly rewarding. In a way, it was a really nice reinforcement of hope that doing things authentically can still pay off.
Why do you think you polled so strongly?
I think people were looking for an alternative to the status quo. I wasn’t coming from a political background, and I showed up as myself, which I think came across as genuine. Being independent helped, and I also ran the campaign my own way. Even things like the sign on my car gave people a laugh. It started conversations, and I think a bit of humour goes a long way. I’m not afraid to have a laugh, and I think that made it feel more approachable. At the heart of it, my campaign had a strong focus on the ocean and the coastline. Many people choose to live here because of that connection, and wanting to protect it is something that really resonated. I think that combination of authenticity, humour, and shared values helped people relate to what I was standing for.
What have been your first impressions of Local Board life?
It’s definitely been a bit of a baptism of fire. Coming from outside this space, it feels like being thrown in the deep end, with a huge amount of information and procedure to get across very quickly. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes that most people never see. Like any new role, it’s full-on at first, but I back myself to learn fast, ask good questions, and make sound decisions. It’s been an intense introduction, but one I’m confident I’ll grow into quickly. What’s really stood out is the work council staff do. They often get a pretty raw deal publicly, but seeing how they support the board while staying neutral has been impressive, especially given the strong personalities around our table. Balancing that can’t be easy. I’ve also really enjoyed meeting community groups and volunteers doing incredible work across the area.
There’s so much good happening that I wasn’t fully aware of before, and it’s been genuinely inspiring to see the time and effort some people put into this community.
How do you intend to follow through on your election platforms?
I want to be approachable and visible, both out in the community and through channels like social media and my own website. People won’t always agree with my decisions, and that’s okay, but it’s important they understand my reasoning and how I arrived at them. There’s a fine line with engagement, especially online, so my focus is on clear, respectful communication and creating a constructive feedback loop.
Personally, I prefer real conversations. I’m someone who would rather sit down one-on-one than go back and forth in a big public forum or online. Over time, I want to make it easier for people to share ideas or raise issues, so we can work on them quickly and make everyone feel like they’re contributing to improving this place.
What do you see as the key issues for the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board area?
I think the number one issue facing the Devonport–Takapuna Local Board area is how we handle urban intensification. Growth here is inevitable, and there’s a lot of opportunity for it, but the challenge is doing it well. That means planning carefully, making sure infrastructure keeps up, and protecting the character of our neighbourhoods. As intensification increases, green spaces and our beaches become even more important. They play a huge role in community connection and in keeping people connected to the environment.
Closely linked to intensification is infrastructure, and this is a challenge we are already facing. Stormwater, wastewater, and transport are all coming under increasing pressure, and in many ways, it feels like we are at a tipping point, particularly with stormwater and transport capacity. Stormwater is a major issue in our area, with sediment, pollution, and flooding impacting our waterways and the marine environment. While the Local Board doesn’t have decision-making authority over stormwater or wastewater, as these sit with Auckland Council, we do have to play an important role in advocating strongly to ensure planning and investment keep pace with growth. Transport is also critical. With changes to how Auckland Transport operates, Local Boards are expected to have more influence locally, and it will be interesting to see what decision-making capability we’re given and how effectively we can use it to manage the impacts of intensification.
The third key issue is cost pressures. Under Auckland Council’s Fairer Funding changes, the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board was one of the boards that was negatively impacted, and that’s something we’re now having to manage. Since taking office, we’ve been asked to reduce costs or find ways to meet our budget allocation. There’s no silver bullet.
It means working with the community to be clear about priorities, decide which assets we protect and invest in, and identify where we can do things better. It also means continuing to advocate to Auckland Council to ensure the funding model remains fair and reflects the real needs and pressures of our area.
Do you reckon we can ever fix Lake Road?
Yes, I think it’s possible, but will everyone be happy? Probably not. Fixing Lake Road requires behavioural change. We can’t keep assuming that everyone can sit in a single-occupancy car and that adding another lane will solve the problem. Lake Road is a constrained corridor. It’s not realistically going to get much wider, and it’s only going to get busier, so we have to use the space we have far more efficiently.
I commute most days from Narrow Neck to Milford, and the fastest way for me to get there now is by pedal bike. E-bike and e-scooter technology is improving rapidly, and these options take up far less space than cars, but people still need to feel safe using them. This is the chicken-and-egg problem. We build compromised bike lanes, people say they’re not used, but they’re often not used because they don’t feel safe. At the same time, buses are stuck in the same traffic as cars, which makes them unreliable. If we want behaviour to change, both bikes and buses need clear, prioritised space so people can see they actually work. If you look at almost any major city in the world, people use buses, trams, bikes, and shared transport. They deal with hills, rain, and weather worse than ours. The difference is that those cities have made clear choices that prioritise movement over car storage. Change is uncomfortable, but when you’re sitting still on Lake Road, and a bus or an e-bike goes past, it will make you rethink things.
What do you do to relax?
Basically, anything on the water. It is my happy place. If the wind is up, I love to jet off Narrow Neck Beach and wing or kite foil out past Rangitoto Lighthouse, escape and look back on the epic place we live. I also love to get away on a yacht with my friends and family, cruising the Hauraki Gulf or further afield…
Favourite holiday destination in New Zealand?
Aotea/Great Barrier Island. It is a magical place to escape to.
Favourite holiday destination overseas?
Lake Garda, Italy. Stunning villages and so many things to do on the water and in the mountains.
What will you be doing over the summer holiday season?
Cruising the coast from the Bay of Islands back to Auckland on a yacht
Complete the following… After my first three-year term on the Local Board, I want to….
…be able to look back and say I was bold in pushing for change and delivered tangible improvements for our community and the environment.
