Super city changes one step forward and two steps back

Changes to the Auckland Council bill following select committee consideration represent one step forward and two steps back, North Shore City Councillor and the Council’s Finance and Strategy Committee Chairman Grant Gillon said today.
“The two issues local people have raised with me time and again since the bill was introduced and made public back in May this year have been the need for local boards to be free to make decisions for their own areas, and concerns over the election of at-large councillors from across the region.”
“On both issues, the committee’s recommendations have been found to be seriously deficient.
“It is clear from the legislation that the local boards have virtually no autonomous power themselves and are utterly beholden to the new Auckland Council for delegated powers and funding and what that funding can be spent on, and must lobby and advocate to the new Auckland Council for any new or changed services, bylaws, or policies.
“This is a million miles away from what our local communities wanted, where local people are elected to local boards that have the power to decide local services and plans.
“The other area of concern relates to the supposed axing of ‘at-large’ councillors for the 2010 local government election only. While the committee’s recommendation that all councillors be elected from wards is welcomed, the option remains that for with a small number of very large wards with multiple members, essentially restoring the ‘at-large’ councillors. In fact, this option was recommended by the committee.
“It is conceivable that the current North Shore City area could be constituted as one ward with, say, three councillors elected at-large from across the entire ward. Such an outcome would incense a lot of local people who have made it clear that smaller wards with one councillor would ensure fair and equitable representation of all of our local communities on the new Auckland Council, Councillor Gillon said.
Councillor Gillon added that it is important for local North Shore people to make their views known on ward boundaries and representation to the Local Government Commission, which intends to publish the draft ward boundary proposals for both the North Shore local boards and the North Shore Auckland Council wards in late November and has promised to consult with local communities in December, before publishing the final boundaries early next year.
It is also important for the community to lobby their MPs to enshrine local board’s powers in the third piece of Auckland Governance legislation proposed for later this year.