Auckland Council releases Len Brown trip documents

Auckland Mayor Len Brown. Photo / Natalie Slade

Auckland Council has released a batch of documents dated from around the time Mayor Len Brown was having an affair with council adviser Bevan Chuang.

The documents have been released to the Herald under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.

The material primarily relates to a study trip Mr Brown took to China and Hong Kong in November 2011. Ms Chuang did not join Mr Brown on the trip.

Mr Brown had a two-year affair with Ms Chuang in his first term as mayor of the Super City.

Details of the affair were made public on Cameron Slater's Whaleoil blog three days after he was re-elected mayor for a second term on October 12 last year.

Mr Brown, who is married to lawyer Shan Inglis, rejected calls to resign and stayed on as mayor.

A report by EY (formerly Ernst & Young) found that he failed to declare more than $39,000 in free hotel rooms and upgrades but cleared him of using council resources or giving preferential treatment in connection to the affair.

Last December, councillors voted unanimously to censure Mr Brown, but gave him the opportunity to rebuild his political career.

He gave his colleagues an assurance there was nothing else out there and made a commitment to work closer with councillors on a common agenda.