Mark Ball and Paul Hutchison: World-class city at odds with needs of the hinterland

Opinion

Wherever they live in the region, people agree with the goal of making Auckland a world-class city.

They want better public transport, consistent planning and decision-making, efficient infrastructure and less political infighting. Few realise, however, that what is on the table is much more than a Super City.

Not only will the new Auckland Council govern the largest city in New Zealand, it will govern a significant rural area.

If Rodney and Franklin are included, it will govern some 443,500 hectares of farmland.

This rural area contains some of New Zealand's most productive soils and intensive poultry and horticulture operations.

The new governors of Auckland have had their mission well and truly spelt out for them - "to create a world-class city". Fix the public transport, make the infrastructure efficient and affordable, make good planning decisions, maximise the city's economy.

The people elected will be those that convince Aucklanders they are the right people for the job.

But while they are getting on with that job, who is going to look after the enormous rural constituency? Franklin and Rodney may warrant a ward each based on population, but what chance will two ward councillors have to represent the rural view on a Super City Council? What relevance do these rural areas have for ensuring a successful metropolitan city?

We believe the boundaries of this world-class city need to be rethought. Make sure that it's just that - a city. Concentrate on where the real problems are - the urban areas.

Allow the new Auckland Council to focus on the issues that matter, and leave the rural areas out - at least for now - while they get the metro issues sorted out.

For decades the vast rural areas of the Auckland region have felt poorly understood, and treated as low priority by Queen Street. Two public meetings held a few days after the Government's response to the royal commission demonstrated that in the northern part of the Hunua electorate, near Beachlands, there was a willingness to accept the Super City, particularly if local representation was strengthened.

But in Pukekohe, in the heart of Franklin, an overwhelming voice called for retention of the Franklin District Council and possible alignment with Environment Waikato.

The basis of this call was because of the historical, cultural, economic and social reasons that bind Franklin into a highly progressive and cohesive district.

This call is supported by the five-to-one ratio of submissions to the royal commission seeking to retain Franklin. A further recent survey of several thousand showed only 2 per cent in favour of the Super City.

However, there is much more than sentiment to redrawing the southern boundary of the Super City along Franklin District's current northern boundary. We think the goal to make Auckland great will be much easier to achieve by excluding the rural area of Franklin.

Here are some of the reasons:

Infrastructure: All of the water and wastewater infrastructure in Auckland is connected. However, Franklin is completely independent, with 12 separate water supplies and four separate wastewater treatment plants. Serving this small, disconnected rural infrastructure would simply be a distraction for Auckland's new water company.

Franklin has very few bus and train services. Excluding Franklin will enable Auckland to focus on solving its pressing urban transport issues.

Both the rail network and the motorways which do affect Franklin are now administered at a national level and will not be managed by the new city.

Managing Growth: A high proportion of New Zealand's class one and two soils are located in Franklin. Protection of these elite soils is of national importance for food production. They must not be consumed by urban sprawl.

Franklin's focus is primary production (glasshouses, vegetable growing, beef and dairy farms, aggregate extraction, chicken and egg production). Waikato River: It is critical the Waikato River catchment is administered by a single agency. Environment Waikato already has the expertise to do this and wishes to continue. Tainui, which has 15 marae in Franklin, supports this model.

Leaving governance to Environment Waikato and Tainui will be simpler for the Auckland Council, and provide a better result for co-management of the river.

The Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill, which is to go to a select committee, will provide an excellent process for these issues to be debated.

We very much agree the Super City should go ahead, but to succeed it should focus on the metropolitan area and exclude Franklin.

* Mark Ball is Mayor of Franklin and Dr Paul Hutchison is National MP for Hunua.