Heathcote’s new councillor Nathaniel Herz-Jardine said he is both “humbled and energised” after winning his seat by a decisive margin in Christchurch’s local body elections.
Speaking with Chris Lynch Media, Herz-Jardine said the scale of his victory came as a surprise.
“My private prediction was a thousand-vote margin, but it’s sitting at fifteen hundred and will probably be a bit more once the special votes are in. It feels like everything I said resonated with people. The work I put in was heard, and that’s a really good feeling,” he said.
The People’s Choice councillor who began door-knocking in May, credited early, on-the-ground campaigning for helping him connect with residents and shape his message.
“When you start that early you quickly get a sense of what voters care about. It helped me find that middle ground between what I believe in and what the community wants. By the time we got into the main campaign, I already had a really clear idea of what to talk about.”
Herz-Jardine said his background as a community organiser gave him the practical experience to move beyond slogans.
“When you actually want to solve a problem, it’s not enough just to complain. If you want council to do something about working poverty, you need a whole policy ready to implement. That approach of having really concrete ideas people could latch on to worked well.”
The new councillor said he had sought advice from outgoing Heathcote councillor Sara Templeton before the campaign began.
“She told me to talk to as many community leaders as I could and start from there. That’s always been my approach, listening first.”
He also received encouragement from returning councillor Victoria Henstock.
“She said, ‘You’re going to have a lot to learn, so just accept that the start is about absorbing everything.’ I’m ready for that, it’s going to feel a bit like being back in school for a while before getting my teeth into the big issues.”
Herz-Jardine said he is most excited about helping residents directly.
“I’m looking forward to getting calls from constituents about issues they’re seeing on their street and figuring out how to fix them. Someone called me yesterday and said, ‘I’m your first problem!’ That made me laugh, but that’s exactly the part I enjoy.”
He said one of the first local matters he plans to pursue is tackling abandoned and derelict properties. “There’s one in Brookhaven that’s been empty since 2011, windows smashed, weeds everywhere, rats breeding. Being able to sort that out and make a visible difference is what I’m here for.”
Herz-Jardine officially begins his new role with induction meetings this week and said he is eager to get started.
“I just want to get to work. The community has given me a strong mandate, and I’m going to make sure it counts.”
