Waitākere ward

Waitākere Ward is a district of Auckland Council in New Zealand. It consists of the part of the old Waitakere City lying west of a line from Te Atatū Peninsula to Titirangi.

Waitākere Ward
ward of Auckland
Country	New Zealand
Island	North Island
Region	Auckland Region
Area [1]
• Land	359.00 km2 (138.61 sq mi)
Population  (June 2024)[2]
• Total	192,900

The ward elects two councillors, currently Shane Henderson and Ken Turner, who have oversight of its two local boards, Henderson-Massey and Waitākere Ranges.

Demographics

Waitākere ward covers 359.00 km² (138.61 sq mi)^[1] and had an estimated population of 192,900 as of June 2024, with a population density of 537 people per km².

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
2006	144,288	—
2013	156,081	+1.13%
2018	170,514	+1.78%
2023	178,677	+0.94%
Source: [3][4]

Population density in the 2023 census

Waitākere ward had a population of 178,677 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 8,163 people (4.8%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 22,596 people (14.5%) since the 2013 census. There were 88,563 males, 89,445 females and 666 people of other genders in 57,267 dwellings.^[5] 3.4% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 35.2 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 37,266 people (20.9%) aged under 15 years, 35,844 (20.1%) aged 15 to 29, 85,176 (47.7%) aged 30 to 64, and 20,391 (11.4%) aged 65 or older.^[4]

People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 51.6% European (Pākehā); 16.8% Māori; 19.5% Pasifika; 27.4% Asian; 2.7% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 2.0% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 92.7%, Māori language by 3.7%, Samoan by 5.3%, and other languages by 25.4%. No language could be spoken by 2.7% (e.g. too young to talk). New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.5%. The percentage of people born overseas was 37.4, compared with 28.8% nationally.^[4]

Religious affiliations were 34.4% Christian, 5.2% Hindu, 2.9% Islam, 1.0% Māori religious beliefs, 1.7% Buddhist, 0.5% New Age, 0.1% Jewish, and 1.6% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 46.3%, and 6.5% of people did not answer the census question.^[4]

Of those at least 15 years old, 37,788 (26.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 65,097 (46.0%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 38,526 (27.2%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $43,700, compared with $41,500 nationally. 16,623 people (11.8%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 76,422 (54.0%) people were employed full-time, 16,632 (11.8%) were part-time, and 5,310 (3.8%) were unemployed.^[4]

Councillors

Waitākere Ward councillors of Auckland
Incumbent Shane Henderson Ken Turner
Term length	Three years
Inaugural holder	Penny Hulse Sandra Coney
Formation	1 November 2010
Website	www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

Election		Councillors Elected	Affiliation	Votes	Notes
2010	1	Penny Hulse	Independent	18125	Hulse was appointed Deputy Mayor of Auckland by mayor Len Brown, and served alongside him until he stepped down. She was replaced by Bill Cashmore upon Phil Goff becoming Mayor in 2016.
	2	Sandra Coney	Best for the West	13451
2013	1	Penny Hulse	West at Heart	19498
	2	Linda Cooper	Independent	11437
2016[6]	1	Penny Hulse	West at Heart	19935[7]	Hulse retired from Auckland Council at the 2019 elections.[8]
	2	Linda Cooper	Independent	12442[7]
2019	1	Linda Cooper	Independent	14750[9]
	2	Shane Henderson	Labour	14695[9]
2022	1	Shane Henderson	Labour	16545[10]
	2	Ken Turner	WestWards	14654[10]	Seat gained from Linda Cooper by 659 votes

Election Results

Election Results for the Waitākere Ward:

2022 election results

Main article: 2022 Auckland local elections

	Name	Affiliation	Votes
1	Shane Henderson	Labour	16545
2	Ken Turner	WestWards	14654
	Linda Cooper	Independent	13995
	Shawn Blanchfield	WestWards	8472
	Peter Chan	Independent	8199
	Tua Schuster	Independent	3278
	Aimela Hansen	Independent	2648
	Michael Coote	Independent	2550
Blank			1528
Informal			61

^[10]

References

1. "Stats NZ Geographic Data Service". Ward 2023 (generalised). Retrieved 21 February 2025.
2. "Aotearoa Data Explorer". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
3. "Statistical area 1 dataset for 2018 Census". Statistics New Zealand. March 2020. Waitākere Ward (07604).
4. "Totals by topic for individuals, (RC, TALB, UR, SA3, SA2, Ward, Health), 2013, 2018, and 2023 Censuses". Stats NZ – Tatauranga Aotearoa – Aotearoa Data Explorer. Waitākere Ward (w_07604). Retrieved 3 October 2024.
5. "Totals by topic for dwellings, (RC, TALB, UR, SA3, SA2, Ward, Health), 2013, 2018, and 2023 Censuses". Stats NZ – Tatauranga Aotearoa – Aotearoa Data Explorer. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
6. "Local body election nominations close". Radio New Zealand. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
7. "Ward councillors – Waitākere Ward confirmed" (PDF). Auckland Council. 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
8. "Penny Hulse farewells council life". Our Auckland. Auckland Council. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
9. "Local board members" (PDF). Auckland Council. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
10. "Local Elections 2022 - Official Results" (PDF). Auckland Council. 15 October 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.

External links

• Waitākere ward, Auckland Council