Charles Ernest Poynter QSO JP (8 February 1939 – 20 August 2007) was the mayor of Wanganui from 1986 to 2004.
[1] He was a bookseller—a business he inherited from his father and located in Victoria Avenue, the main shopping area of Wanganui.
He was elected to the Wanganui City Council as a councillor in 1977,[2] re-elected in 1980 and stood for the mayoralty in 1983 upon the retirement of Mayor Ron Russell.
In 2004, he stood again and was defeated,[6] polling third behind media personality Michael Laws and businessman John Martin with just 20% of the vote.
Poynter’s children also rejected this proposal believing their father would also object to the name change being disrespectful to the iwi.