'This is mad'

Edward Rooney | 26th November 2009

The latest chapter in there form of Auckland sees lines drawn on maps - but where and why? Edward Rooney reports

The powers that be. It is a phrase that means our authorities, our elected officials. In Auckland for the next few weeks, the powers that be are a glaringly missing piece from the giant puzzle of the new single-city.

Last Friday, the Local Government Commission made public its proposals for the boundaries and representation arrangements for the new Auckland Council.

Richard Tong, a long-time champion of the Devonport area and formerly a Devonport Borough Council officer, says the most troubling aspect of the commission's proposals is that the powers of the new boards have yet to be announced.

"They've set the amount of governance we will have for unknown roles and responsibilities. This is mad.''

Auckland City has been split into three wards, as well as the new Whau ward. The Orakei-Maungakiekie and Mt Albert-Mt Roskill wards will have two councillors each.

Maungawhau-Hauraki Gulf will have one councillor. Within these wards are eight local boards, the second tier of local government, with five to seven members on each.

The details of how the local boards will function and what decisions they will handle will be disclosed in a third bill to be introduced to Parliament sometime next month.

Another contentious proposal is for large blocks of residential and business properties in
Kelston, New Lynn and Green Bay to become part of the Auckland isthmus.

Waterview, Avondale, New Windsor and Green Bay are all in the newly created Whau Ward. The soon-to-be-defunct Auckland City Council has coveted the business-zoned areas of Avondale for decades.

Allen Davies, a long-time Waiheke resident who is also a member of the Massey Community Board in West Auckland, says the proposal reduces local representation far too far: "I think the whole thing's bloody dreadful.''

He says having a local board of five members for Waiheke Island may look good to the islanders but it doesn't offset the disadvantage of having just one Auckland councillor elected from the CBD and the Hauraki Gulf islands. "Waiheke Island is not going to be well represented.''

Mr Davies says it's interesting the Government accepted the Royal Commission's earlier recommendation for a specific councillor for Franklin and one for Rodney, "but there was a third recommended for the Hauraki Gulf and that has disappeared''.

He says there should have been about 34 local boards, not the 19 proposed by the Local Government Commission. ``This is a gift to bureaucracy - I think they've blown it,'' Mr
Davies says.

Commission chairwoman Sue Piper told The Aucklander after the publication of the proposals that March 1 next year is a very tight time frame in which to set boundaries.

"Yes, it's tight, but we've been aware of that from the start.''

In its findings the commission points out that it is a statutory requirement  to provide individual boards for Waiheke and Great Barrier Islands.

One senior Auckland City councillor noted at the commission's briefing on Friday that he
would be standing for the Great Barrier Island Local Board as it has five members to represent 840 people.

The commission says in its findings that the Hauraki Gulf islands have a functional community of interest links - such as transport and employment - with the CBD.

Submissions on the new boards and wards must be made by 5pm, December 11.
For more info, see: www.lgc.govt.nz