The mayor of Ashburton is the elected head of local government in the

Ashburton District Ashburton District is a Districts of New Zealand, territorial authority district in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It encompasses the town of Ashburton, New Zealand, Ashburton, a number of small towns and settlements an ...

of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

; one of 67 mayors in the country. The mayor is based in the principle town (and namesake) of the district, Ashburton. The mayor presides over the

Ashburton District Council Ashburton District Council is the territorial authority for the Ashburton District of New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the S ...

and is directly elected using the

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

method. From 1878 until the

1989 local government reforms The 1989 New Zealand local government reform was the most significant reform of local government in New Zealand in over a century. Some 850 local bodies were amalgamated into 86 local authorities, on Regions of New Zealand, regional and Territo ...

, the area was administered by a borough council. Neil Brown is the current mayor of Ashburton; he was first elected in the 2019 local elections.

History

The Ashburton Borough Council was inaugurated in 1878. The first mayor was Thomas Bullock, who was elected on 2 September 1878. Nine borough councillors were elected on 5 September and the first council meeting was held on 9 September. Hugo Friedlander was the second mayor when he resigned in July 1892 as he had urgent business in England to attend to. Henry Davis was declared elected unopposed for 12 years in a row. The first time he had an opponent, in April 1915, he was defeated. Methven farmer Angus McKay was mayor for two terms from the 2010 local elections to 2016. Donna Favel was the mayor of Ashburton between 2016 and 2019. Since 2019, the current mayor has been Neil Brown; he was sworn in on 24 October.

List of mayors of Ashburton

References

{{Mayors in New Zealand Ashburton Ashburton Ashburton District