Super-city concerns aired

Rodney residents had an opportunity to air concerns regarding the formation of the Greater Auckland Council at a public meeting in Whangaparaoa on May 17.

The meeting, organised by Rodney MP Lockwood Smith’s office, is the only one scheduled to take place in the district. More than 150 people, including residents of Kawau Island and Puhoi, put questions to Associate Local Government Minister John Carter and Dr Smith.

Mr Carter said that although the single unitary authority for Auckland was established with a bill passed through parliament on May 16, everything else was “on the table” as a second bill to outline the structures of the new council and set the boundaries of the super city will go through a select committee.

Mr Carter said Government wants to canvass people’s needs and views on issues such as boundaries for the new council, where Local Boards should be placed and their functions. The main conduit for this is via submissions to the select committee.
Support was voiced by a small number of those present for Rodney to be part of a single Auckland authority, but many more residents said they felt railroaded into becoming part of Auckland and wanted the new council’s boundaries to exclude Rodney.

Mr Carter agreed that it did not make sense to bring all of Rodney and Franklin under the unitary authority’s control.
“It defies sense to include Wellsford as part of Auckland, but the issue is, where should that northern boundary be? Mr Carter said. “We want the public’s views on that.”

Other concerns included how the new council would deal with rural issues and what role and power Local Boards would have.
Mr Carter said the boards would have more power than community boards and that locals would decide what the priorities would be – this could be different for each board.

“The functions of local boards will be prescribed by law. Communities will have input on what services the boards will be responsible for, and the unitary authority will not interfere in that. Other functions can be delegated to local boards by the unitary authority. Targeted rates may be one way to fund specific local projects.”
Mr Carter said the number of councillors could also change depending on where the boundaries are set.

Rodney MP Lockwood Smith said he did not have a personal view on the boundary issue, and would be guided by feedback from constituents.
“I’m hearing mixed messages about Rodney’s inclusion in the Super-city and want to take as much feedback as possible to the Prime Minister,” Dr Smith said. “A big question is what may happen when Rodney has interests that conflict with those of Auckland.”

The select committee met last week for the first time and will call for submissions soon.

Rodney mayor Penny Webster and Associate Local Government Minister John Carter.