Queenstown Lake District Councillor Ella Lawton has announced she will stand for the Otago Regional Council seat left vacant by the death of her mother Maggie Lawton earlier this month.
Cr Lawton said she decided to stand seat because she was passionate about the future health of the environment and felt her skills which she had used during her almost four years on the district council would transfer to the regional council.
Her mother Dr Lawton died earlier this month after a short battle with cancer.
District councillor Michael Laws has backed Cr Lawton's candidacy.
Cr Laws said she was the natural successor to her mother and he would support her candidacy for the Dunstan vacancy on the regional council.
If the Wanaka based Cr Lawton was elected to the regional council it would reinstate the geographic balance to the Dunstan ward, he said.
Councillors are not able to serve on both councils and if Cr Lawton is elected a by-election will be held to fill her Wanaka ward seat.
Nominations for the vacant Dunstan ward seat close at noon on Monday, April 24.
- More in tomorrow's Otago Daily Times
