Chris Darby is an

Auckland Council Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is ...

lor for the North Shore Ward and the chair of the Planning Committee. He is focused on public transport,

urban regeneration Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of bligh ...

and environmental issues. He is a progressive independent who is not affiliated to any political party. He ran on his independent ticket 'Taking the Shore Forward' in the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, 2016 and 2019 elections, and was elected each time.

Early political involvement

As a young man, Darby supported

Ngāti Whātua Ngāti Whātua is a Māori iwi (tribe) of the lower Northland Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. It comprises a confederation of four hapū (subtribes) interconnected both by ancestry and by association over time: Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, ...

's occupation of

Bastion Point Takaparawhau / Bastion Point is a coastal piece of land in Ōrākei, Auckland, New Zealand, overlooking the Waitematā Harbour. The area is significant in New Zealand history as the site of protests in the late 1970s by Māori against forced la ...

and was there on the day of the eviction on 25 May 1978. Before the "super city" merger of Auckland's councils into

in 2010, Darby served on the

North Shore City Council The North Shore is part of the large urban area of Auckland, New Zealand, located to the north of the Waitematā Harbour. To the east, has the Hauraki Gulf, to the west, is West Auckland, New Zealand, West Auckland, to the south, has the Wait ...

, being first elected in 2004.

Auckland Council

At the 2010 Auckland Council elections, Darby ran for the North Shore ward of Auckland Council for Shore Voice alongside Ann Hartley, who was elected. Darby finished 6th and was not elected to the council, but was elected to the

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board The Devonport-Takapuna Local Board covers from Castor Bay, and Sunnynook south to the end of the Devonport Peninsula; it is separated from the Kaipātiki board area by the Northern Motorway. This local board sits in the Auckland Council office ...

for the 2010–2013 term. At the 2013 Auckland Council elections, Darby ran for Council again and was elected as a Councillor for the North Shore ward, polling higher than both incumbents, George Wood and Ann Hartley. Wood remained Co-Councillor with Darby, given the North Shore ward elects two Councillors, however Hartley lost her seat to Darby, with whom she had campaigned on the Shore Voice ticket in 2010. Darby served his first term on the council with George Wood. In the 2013–16 Auckland Council he was the Deputy Chair of the Auckland Development Committee and Infrastructure Committee, and is council's Political Urban Design Champion. Darby was re-elected at the 2016 Auckland elections, with Richard Hills elected to serve with Darby. The new mayor,

Phil Goff Philip Bruce Goff (born 22 June 1953) is a New Zealand politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition between 11 N ...

, appointed Darby the Chairperson of the Planning Committee. At both the 2019 and

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

elections, Darby and Hills were re-elected.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darby, Chris Living people Auckland Councillors North Shore City Councillors 1950s births