Blueprint brings city's future look into focus

The political landscape of the Super City is coming into focus with the release of boundaries for the Auckland Council and local boards.

Yesterday, the Local Government Commission proposed 12 wards on the Auckland Council and 19 local boards.

Eight wards will have two councillors each and four wards one councillor each. Each councillor will represent between 53,590 and 88,000 people.

The mayor will be elected by the full region of 1.4 million people.

The commission has recommended five to nine members for each of the 19 local boards, including three super local boards of more than 100,000 people for Hibiscus Coast-Albany-East Coast Bays, Waitakere, and Howick-Pakuranga-Botany-Flat Bush.

At the other end of the scale are boards for Waiheke Island (population 8300) and Great Barrier Island (840), which were stipulated by the Government.

The local boards, which are expected to have more powers than the existing Auckland City's 30 community boards, will have a total of 126 members.

Local Government Commission chairwoman Sue Piper said a main objective was to promote good governance and good engagement between people, communities, locals boards and the Auckland Council.

The recommendations include:

A ward for the Auckland central business district, inner city suburbs and Hauraki Gulf Islands that is under-represented with one councillor.

A new, single-member Whau ward made up of New Lynn (now in Waitakere) and Avondale ( now in Auckland City).

An Orakei-Maungakiekie ward split on economic and political lines with communities as diverse as Remuera and Otahuhu.

Ms Piper said the commission figured that two-member wards would give people better access to councillors and provide for greater diversity.

The commission was required to provide single-member wards for rural Rodney and Franklin, she said, and population numbers made it necessary to have single member wards for Whau and Central Auckland.

Another commissioner, Grant Kirby, said the reason for recommending 19 local boards - the Government set the number at 20 to 30 - was to give them the critical mass and muscle needed to provide services to their communities. "What we didn't want was powerless boards."

The release of the draft boundaries has given elected representatives, political and community groups and aspiring candidates the starting point for next year's Super City elections.

The commission has recommended small changes to the southern boundary, such as including all of Pukekohe and Waiuku in the Auckland region.

It has also suggested placing the area around Kaiaua in the Hauraki district.

The public has until 5pm on December 11 to make submissions on the commission's proposals.

The commission has until March 1 next year to complete the boundaries for local body elections in October.