Wayne Guppy

Wayne Noel Guppy (born 31 August 1954) is a New Zealand local-body politician. He has been the Mayor of Upper Hutt since 2001.

Early life
Guppy was born in Upper Hutt on 31 August 1954, the son of Colin Guppy, a police officer, and Joy Guppy. He was educated at St. Patrick's College, Silverstream, and obtained a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

In 1987, Guppy was a lecturer in clinical pharmacy at Hutt Hospital, and group chairman of the pharmacy practice department at Upper Hutt's Central Institute of Technology, while his wife, Sue, ran Guppy's Dispensary in Upper Hutt.

Personal life
Guppy is married to Sue and they have two daughters. They live in the Upper Hutt suburb of Heretaunga. Guppy is currently the president of the Upper Hutt Rugby Football Club. He is a justice of the peace.

Mayor of Upper Hutt
Guppy was first elected to the Upper Hutt City Council in 1998 and was the chair of the Consents Committee for that three-year term. At the next local body election in 2001, he was elected Mayor of Upper Hutt with a majority of around 6,000 votes and has been mayor since. In the 2007 local election, he was returned unopposed. Guppy and Chris Hipkins launched a petition in 2009 opposing the proposed merger of the Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt police districts.

Water infrastructure controversies
In 2023, Guppy publicly criticised Wellington Water, an asset management company jointly owned by most councils in the Wellington Region. The company manages the water infrastructure in Upper Hutt on behalf of the city council. Wellington Water reported that 52% of the drinking water supplied to the city was being lost through leaks. An Upper Hutt councillor claimed that the state of the water network was the result of decades of under-investment, and that the city was currently only replacing 1.5 km of water mains each year. Guppy disputed the claims and said that he had "no confidence" in Wellington Water and its advice. Guppy has also strongly opposed the installation of water meters for all consumers, despite the evidence that they lead to significantly reduced demand. In a separate issue related to wastewater, Guppy disputed advice from Wellington Water about the potential need to invest $1 billion in a total replacement of the long sewage outfall pipe from the treatment plant at Seaview to Pencarrow Head, together with upgrades at the treatment plant.