Thomas Glendwr Gardner "Glen" Evans (22 April 1936 – 24 August 2016) was a New Zealand politician. He served as the
mayor of Lower Hutt from 1986 to 1995.
Biography
Early life and family
Born in
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
,
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...
, England, on 22 April 1936, Evans was the son of New Zealand parents.
In the wake of the
Great Depression his father, an engineer, had gone to England to find work, and later served in the
Colonial Service
The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...
in
Ceylon.
Evans was educated at
Palmerston North Boys' High School
Palmerston North Boys' High School is a traditional boys school located in Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Location
Palmerston North Boys' High School has a campus located on Featherston Street between Rangitikei and North Streets in the central ...
, and went on to study at the
University of Otago
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, caption = University clock tower
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, mottoeng = Dare to be wise
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and
Victoria University College,
graduating
BA,
LLB
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
from the latter institution in 1962. In 1959 Evans married Barbara Cunningham, and the couple went on to have three sons.
He was a member of the
Jaycees and was a winner of the Jaycees national debating championship. From 1963 he was a lawyer in practice, first with the commercial law firm Chapman Tripp then as a partner with the firm Agar, Keesing and Evans. In 1979 he became a Wellington partner in the national firm of Buddle Findlay until he resigned in 1986.
Political career
At the
1971 local elections he stood as a candidate for the
Lower Hutt City Council
The Hutt City Council is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the city of Lower Hutt. Lower Hutt is the country's List of cities in New Zealand#City councils, seventh largest city. The city bo ...
on mayor
John Kennedy-Good's Combined Team ticket, but was unsuccessful. Evans was elected as a Lower Hutt City Councillor on a
Citizens' ticket in
1974. Initially he was successful but his position was tenuous, finishing sixteenth for the sixteen positions available and only 28 votes ahead of the next candidate. However, following the counting of special votes, he was confirmed as elected increasing his 28 vote lead to 69. After one term on the council he did not stand for re-election in 1977. He also served on the
Stokes Valley Licensing Trust and organised for the Stokes Valley swimming pool to be built.
In 1986 he returned to the political arena when he was selected as the
Citizens' ticket nominee for the mayoralty to succeed Kennedy-Good who was retiring. This caused a split in the ticket with Gerald Bond, a councillor and chairman of the Hutt Valley Energy Board, forming a "combined progressive" electoral ticket after losing the nomination to Evans. Evans won the mayoralty at the
1986 election and his United Citizens ticket won in a landslide with majority of councillors. He defeated Labour councillor
Alister Abernethy
Alister Scott Abernethy (24 September 1920 – 5 June 2003) was a New Zealand trade unionist, politician and public servant. Over a 39 year period he was an elected member in three different parts of New Zealand.
Biography
Abernethy was born i ...
with Bond placing a distant third for mayor and lost his council and energy board seat. All of his ticket (which included several incumbents) were defeated. Evans was expecting a closer result and had thought Bond would be a close second. His legacy achievements from the beginning of his mayoralty included flood protection schemes along the
Hutt River, the replacement of the Ewen Bridge and a new ring-road system.
During his second mayoral term he oversaw the
amalgamation of Lower Hutt with several of the neighboring authorities including the
Petone
Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach".
Europeans first settled in P ...
Borough Council,
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
Borough Council and Hutt County Council (centred on
Wainuiomata
Wainuiomata () is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's North Island.
Origin of name
The word 'Wainui-o-mata' is a Māori name made up of the words Wai = water, Nui = big, O = of, and Mata – which could refer ...
) as well as land on the waterfront formerly in the possession of the
Wellington Harbour Board
(Strong but true)
, predecessor =
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, dissolved =
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. Post amalgamation the council began an urban renewal project in Petone with the revitalisation of Jackson Street.
A council decision to build the Central City Plaza car-parking building in Queens Drive was the dominant issue of local politics in Hutt City in the early 1990s. Evans argued that the plaza would attract people to the south end of High Street and assist smaller retailers compete with
Queensgate Mall. The cost of constructing the plaza sky-rocketed causing the council to find itself in severe financial strife, costing more than $35 million to design and build while only being valued at $13 million.
It was the main issue at the
1992 election at which Evans was almost defeated by former councillor Lawrie Woodley and the Evans' United Citizens ticket lost their large majority of council seats. Evans had an election night lead of only 103 with over 500 special votes still to be counted, though ultimately the final count slightly extended Evans' majority to 128.
Turnout for the 1992 election was a record low with barely one quarter of electors voting (the lowest anywhere in the country).
Lower Hutt was the only place in New Zealand to still use
polling booths rather than
postal voting which Evans thought was a cause of comparatively low turnout. He reacted by having future elections switching to postal voting instead.
Financial issues continued mainly due to the escalating cost of the Queen's Drive car-parking plaza and by 1995 council debt was $102 million. Not all debt issues were due to Evans' decision making such as the $13 million
Seaview Marina project which was committed to by the Wellington Harbour Board prior to the 1989 amalgamation. Evans kept rates down to only a 3.35% rise in 1994-5 (lower than the inflation rate) rather than the huge 16.2% rise which would have been required to repay the council budget deficit. Despite criticism he continued to invest in improving infrastructure despite existing debt such as a new sewage and trade waste treatment plant in Seaview (estimated to cost $100 million by its completion in 2001). Evans argued that the investments were necessary to sustain population in the area and that building them in advance would be cheaper in the long-term.
After serving three terms as mayor, Evans did not seek re-election in 1995.
After retiring from the mayoralty he was elected a member of the
Wellington Regional Council
Wellington Regional Council, branded as Greater Wellington Regional Council, is the regional council overseeing the Wellington Region of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is responsible for public transport under the brand Metlink, environm ...
in 1995. He was a member for 12 years until 2007 when he retired. He was chairman of the transport committee from 2004 to 2007 where he focused on improving the rail network, which had been suffering from years of under-investment.
Later life and death
![Glen Evans grave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Glen_Evans_grave.jpg)
In later life, Evans was afflicted by
Alzheimer's disease. He died in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
on 24 August 2016.
Honours
In 1990, Evans was awarded the
New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.
In the
2004 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a
Companion of the Queen's Service Order
The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...
for public services.
Notes
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Glen
1936 births
2016 deaths
People educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School
University of Otago alumni
Victoria University of Wellington alumni
20th-century New Zealand lawyers
20th-century New Zealand politicians
Hutt City Councillors
Mayors of Lower Hutt
Wellington regional councillors
Companions of the Queen's Service Order