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Bill Foster
Leigh resident Bill Foster has taken over as chair of the Northern Action Group (NAG) following the group’s 10th annual general meeting on July 20.
Mr Foster was unanimously elected after being nominated by former chair Bill Townson, who will continue to serve on the NAG committee.
NAG has long fought for an independent north Rodney – free from Auckland Council – and Mr Foster said the group would continue to pursue its objectives of enhancing local democracy, self-determination and choice in local and regional governance. Mr Foster told the meeting of about 30 at the Totara Park Retirement Village in Warkworth that Auckland Council continued to treat Rodney unfairly.
“The city takes away the rates from Rodney. It threatens to make the place a rubbish tip for Auckland City and in return only gives a tiny amount of money we give them on the things we need in this area,” he said.
Mr Foster said Council’s own Citizen Insight Monitor surveys showed that Rodney had the highest level of dissatisfaction of anywhere else in Auckland.
He further slammed Council for ignoring Local Government Commission recommendations to improve service levels and for failing to disclose how much it spends in each Local Board area.
“Everybody involved in the Local Board and our councillor understands that we need a better deal,” he said.
Mr Foster said that might come about either through separation from the Auckland Supercity or through a process of devolution, whereby more authority was delegated to the Rodney Local Board so that local people were more in control of what happened in the region and where money was spent.
