Glen Evans

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, Bedfordshire, 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 in Ceylon. In 1959 Evans married Barbara Cunningham, and the couple went on to have three sons. 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. 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 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. Turnout for the 1992 election was a record low with barely one quarter of electors voting (the lowest anywhere in the country).

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 retiring from the mayoralty he was elected a member of the Wellington Regional Council 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

In later life, Evans was afflicted by Alzheimer's disease. He died in Wellington on 24 August 2016. In the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.