Westfield loses grip on business group

By Campbell McIlroy

Friday 22nd February 2002

Shopping centre company Westfield lost an alleged stranglehold on the Newmarket Business Association after a legal opinion led to fresh elections for the executive being held this week.

The timing could not be worse as the country's largest mall operator heads back to the Auckland City Council with a resource-consent application for its controversial Newmarket development.

Elections for the NBA executive were held in August last year under a new draft ACC constitution for mainstreet programmes.

The number of votes is determined by how many properties each member own or how many rate demands they receive.

This gave Westfield, and its landlord, Tram Lease, a large number of votes.

NBA town centre manager Robin Winter said there was a perception in some quarters the executive was stacked in favour of Westfield.

Westfield's Don Bain was elected, as were Tram Lease's Peter Snelling and Shane Anselmi, of Overland, a Westfield tenant in a number of malls, and John Bondfield, of Southern Exchange, which is tipped to move into Westfield's new mall.

This gave Westfield a majority on the seven-member executive.

But the result did not sit well in the politically charged Newmarket community.

A legal opinion from top law firm Bell Gully said the voting procedure was incorrect and advised a new vote would give each member only one vote.

Meanwhile, the executive had co-opted three new members to maintain balance. Before Monday's election Messrs Anselmi and Bondfield withdrew.

The new executive includes representatives from Westfield and competitor Two Double Seven, as well as strip retailers.

It is chaired by Peter Corner, of Rodney Wayne, which is a tenant in Two Double Seven.

Meanwhile, Westfield is about to launch another round of public consultation before taking its resource-consent application back to council.

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