Sarah Thomson
COUNCILLOR
West Ward
Hamilton
About Me
I bring a track record of rolling up my sleeves and solving tough problems
I was first elected as a Hamilton West Ward councillor in 2019 and it is a huge privilege to serve our community.
I currently chair the council’s Strategic Growth and District Plan Committee, which makes decisions about how and where the city grows and the key infrastructure required to support growth.
As chair, I’ve led progress on big issues including solutions to wastewater constraints, making it easier to build homes, increasing the city’s supply of industrial land to support local manufacturing, and improving city maintenance.
I want a Hamilton to be a place people where love to live now and for decades to come.
As a councillor, I’ve also been a strong advocate for restoring Hamilton’s gullies with native trees and improving the city’s public transport.
I grew up in the Waikato and was head girl at Fairfield College before studying law at the University of Waikato.
Previously I worked as commercial lawyer before making the move into community law. This gave me an opportunity to help clients with a range of issues that spanned across employment, consumer, criminal and family law.
My husband Lloyd and I love bringing up our two young children here in Hamilton. It’s fantastic city with so much to offer including its many parks, playgrounds, and opportunities for school and work.
I am proud to serve you as your Councillor for the West Ward and Hamilton.
A Strong Voice For Hamilton
“I will advocate for our city.
We’re expecting another 84,000 people to be living here in Hamilton over the next 30 years.
I’ll push for the needs of our fast-growing city — including housing, schooling, public transport, and fire and emergency services — so Hamilton can remain a great place to live for decades to come“
- Sarah
I am standing for Mayor because I am committed to ensuring that Hamilton and its residents thrive
It’s tough economic times, and I know people in our community are struggling right now with the cost of living.
We need to identify where we can reduce costs while protecting the valuable services that make Hamilton a great place to live, such as city maintenance, libraries, parks, pools and City Safe.
As mayor, I will lead a council that makes every dollar count — focusing on real, long-term cost savings rather than short-sighted cuts.
This means teaming up with other councils to reduce duplication, reviewing how we contract to drive down costs, and bringing services in-house where it saves money.
Safety in our public spaces matters. As your mayor I’ll take a strong lead on advocating for more support services, and partner with police, to build a safer city for all.
Together, we can build a city we’re all proud of — one where people love to study, work, and call home for generations to come.
What I Stand For
Working to Keep Rates Affordable
I’m committed to making future rates more affordable
while protecting what people love about Hamilton and keeping our city well-maintained.
That means innovating to do more with what we’ve got — not making short-sighted cuts.
Key priorities include:
Growing
shared services with other councils (already saving over $3 million a year)
Benchmarking
against other councils to ensure we’re getting good value for the services we pay for.
Advocate
to bring back services in house to save money. Using technology to solve problems and do things better, cheaper and faster.
Carefully
managing how infrastructure for growth is funded.
Advocate
strongly to central government for removal of GST on rates.
Protecting Our
Services
Facilities like parks, pools and libraries are essential for community wellbeing. Places where people connect, stay active and enjoy our city.
Let’s:
Keep
our libraries open and ensure they meet the needs of our growing city.
Partner
with schools to address the city’s lack of pool and indoor recreation space.
Investigate
getting the University pool back open to the public to address lack of pool facilities on the East side.
Look after
natural spaces, including our parks, gullies and river walk.
Supporting a Strong
Local Economy
As chair of the Strategic Growth and District Plan Committee, I’ve worked on issues central to a successful local economy over the last two years, including:
Supporting
central city retail through making the CBD a more attractive destination.
Finding
solutions to Hamilton’s wastewater constraints.
Fixing
Hamilton’s shortage of industrial land supply, so there are more affordable options to do business and produce goods here locally.
A Safe and
Well-maintained City
Everyone deserves to live in a clean, safe and well-maintained city that they can feel proud of.
I’ll work to
Continue
to fund City Safe officers, and advocate for greater policing resource for Hamilton.
Improve
the design of public spaces to deter crime and antisocial behaviour e.g. good lighting, layout and visibility (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design).
Support
more events and activities that draw people into the central city to increase ‘eyes on the street’
Prioritise
existing transport budgets to fix roads and footpaths faster.
Better
maintain our neighbourhoods and central city.
Looking After Our
Residents
We need strong partnerships with the central government and community organisations to build a safer city that cares for its people.
I’ll take action to:
Ensure
funding for community centres and neighbourhood houses keeps pace with population growth.
Advocate
to central government and support community services to reduce homelessness. Secure funding for a central community hub.
Explore
park-and-ride options in highly congested areas such as the University and the Hospital to solve parking pressures for staff, patients and visitors.
Infrastructure
to Unlock Housing
Hamilton needs more homes and it’s essential that the council fixes the city’s wastewater constraints which are stopping new homes from being built across large parts of the city.
As Chair of the Strategic Growth Committee, I’ve taken a lead on solving this issue and will continue to work to:
Make sure
the new water company focuses on upgrades that allow housing to happen.
Support
developers using short-term solutions (like holding tanks that release wastewater at off peak times) so new homes can be built while public infrastructure upgrades are worked on.
Advocate
to government for co-funding to build the Ruakura eastern transport cooridoor.
Media
I Need Your Help
to make this campaign a success.
It’s contributions from people like you that make the difference, and any amount you’re able to contribute is hugely appreciated.
Donations
If you prefer a direct bank transfer, the campaign account number is below. Please include your name as a reference.
Sarah Thomson
12-3118-0695016-02
If you can’t donate but would love to help out in a different way, please fill out the volunteer form below. All contributions are valued.
Support The Campaign
To create change I need your help!
I am looking for volunteers to help spread the word.
This could be as simple as allowing me to put a sign on your fence, or helping to deliver flyers. If you can lend a hand, I would love to hear from you!