Geoff Smith: Franklin deserves a community voice on the Super City

Keeping the local in local government will be hard for an area such as Franklin. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Opinion

As a Franklin resident, I feel as though I should be making a decision because something important is going to happen to my community. Shouldn't I get to "vote" on that?

Because I have chaired meetings on the Super City concept here in Franklin, I felt it important to put my views aside and assist wherever I could to facilitate discussion on this matter.

There is a strong lobby suggesting we would be better off as part of Auckland. But their reasons are opportunistic, acclaiming the benefits of belonging. However, these are not the reasons the promoters gave for creating a Super City.

So we run the risk of being incorporated for one reason, whereas we want to belong for other and different reasons. Such arrangements often mean neither expectation is met and the ensuing frustration becomes a nightmare partnership.

To confuse matters, the Government announces that a separate governance group for the Auckland waterfront will be set up because the issues there will be too complex for one council!

Two things are clear to me and I am happy to subscribe to both. Wherever we go, we go together as Franklin, as a community. Let's draw the boundaries around the community of interest of the people, not around which way the water flows. And secondly, let's call that community by the name most of the people associate with, Franklin.

How, then, do we preserve our sense of community should we be absorbed into some greater mass? The idea of electing councillors at large has got me really worried. Just contemplate what goes on in Auckland City now. There are three groups of councillors - Citizens and Ratepayers; Labour; and City Vision. Eleven of 16 councillors are on the Citizens and Ratepayers "ticket" so it is their agenda the city runs to. And the other five councillors ... well, they are a minority, so who cares what their electors want?

Who will care what we want? Our voting numbers are hardly significant by comparison to the urban masses north of us. Perhaps we might have a chance with local boards, which we are told will have more powers than the current community boards. These local boards will "advocate" and "have input", and make important local decisions about such things as dog control and graffiti. We were able to advocate and have input to the royal commission, and what did they do? Carve us in half and give us a silly name.

What has dawned on me is the fact that I know little to nothing of Waikato and its councillors. Very rarely do we read of their news and issues in our papers. The Franklin District Council's research has evidenced a strong view in Franklin that we be a part of Waikato. My neighbours across the road pay regional rates to Environment Waikato and, given the comments made at various public meetings, there are those who believe that jurisdiction has a better empathy with our agricultural and rural issues.

Whether it be Auckland or Waikato, keeping the "local" in local government will be particularly important. Many community boards made submissions to the royal commission stating the value of community boards to grassroots democracy, saying they fulfil a vital democratic function. The community boards all supported the retention of community boards or similar bodies elected at community level. A typical comment was that the "local" in local government must be protected, and local communities of interest must be allowed to retain appropriately empowered representation of their choosing.

Knowing more about how the proposed local boards might operate would make it much easier for me to decide where I would prefer to be. If there were strong, truly local boards, I might feel okay about being better protected whilst part of urban Auckland.

If the local boards weren't that strong, perhaps I would prefer to be in rural Waikato.

Which raises the question: Do we have to be part of either? I have a pretty realistic view that as a standalone authority our costs would rise dramatically. Regardless, we could not ignore our regional responsibilities. The present Franklin Council is very experienced in maintaining regional perspectives - after all, there are two regional councils operating within its jurisdiction. Perhaps we could easily stand on our own and to help achieve the efficiencies Government hopes for we would work with only one regional council, not two.

Am I any closer to making a decision? Not really. But then I don't know why I am in anguish over this - the decision will be made for me.

And therein lies the rub. We are told this decision is for efficiencies, uniform rates and rules; that we will be better off. I look nervously at recent announcements and related costs to turn the Auckland waterfront into "party central" and the ratepayer debate over a new stadium complex in Hamilton. I can't see the costs going down, that's for sure.

In short, we are being asked to support and trust somebody else's judgment, without information that will do anything to boost our confidence that any such judgment will not significantly compromise our Franklin community's best interests.

* Geoff Smith lives at Hazeldene Farm, Waiuku.