Phil York: Live in the region, work in the city

Opinion

Mayors Mark Ball (Franklin) and Penny Webster (Rodney) and Hunua MP Paul Hutchison are dreaming if they think the Franklin and Rodney districts are truly rural communities.

The truth of the matter is laid out in both councils' annual plans, which they have themselves prepared for their communities. These plans are currently out for consultation.

According to the Franklin Long Term Council Community Plan, well over 10,000 and possibly as many as 15,000 of the 60,000 or so Franklin residents commute into metropolitan Auckland to work.

What's more, 2006 census figures indicate the most common occupational group in Franklin is "managers and professionals". Now this is hardly commensurate with the district truly being "rural".

Counting their dependants, it is clear that more than half of Franklin's residents are entirely reliant on Auckland for their existence.

A similar pattern exists in Rodney, where half the district consists of metropolitan Hibiscus Coast. Just as in Franklin, hundreds, probably thousands, of residents pour out of Rodney's hinterland every day to work in metropolitan Auckland. The Rodney long-term plan recognises that "many people in the district commute to work outside the district".

It also goes on to recommend the Penlink project, which would link the Whangaparaoa Peninsula to Auckland's Northern Motorway, be built to "reduce commuting times to Auckland and have significant economic benefits for our district". The truth of the matter is that Whangaparaoa is within metropolitan Auckland's urban limits and it hasn't seen any real rural activity for years.

On the other hand, there is no doubt Auckland's farmers are being conned by the Franklin and Rodney councils. For a start, we pay much higher rates than farmers in most other parts of the country.

The property value-based rating system means farmers in Rodney and Franklin pay much more for council services than residential ratepayers.

Both districts are growing rapidly - largely because they are part of Auckland - and their farmers are paying disproportionately for that growth. Rural Franklin, for example, has been paying 30 per cent of the cost of Pukekohe's stormwater system for years.

No wonder Mark Ball says Franklin can look after its own urban infrastructure - it's got the farmers to pay for it. But it's about time Auckland as a whole paid for its growth. Keeping Rodney and Franklin separate from Auckland, however, means this just won't happen.

If Mark Ball and Paul Hutchison had been paying attention at the recent meeting in Pukekohe organised by opponents of the Super City and attended by about 200 people, they would have heard five of the six speakers speak about the advantages of the Super City proposal. Surprise, surprise the only one against it was Mayor Ball himself.

The solution? Well, the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance hit the nail on the head. Separate the rural parts of Auckland from the metropolitan parts, but operate big infrastructure items, such as roading, water and strategic planning, centrally.

There is plenty for the local boards to do and most of what affects people directly would still be decided at the local level.

But the mayors are right about one thing - detailed land use planning needs to be determined at a local level and not centrally.

The Super City is a misnomer - what it should in fact be is a Super Region. But whatever you call it, farmers in Rodney and Franklin will generally see themselves as part of it. The royal commission's proposal may need tweaking, but it is still the best outcome for Auckland's real rural community.

* Phil York is Federated Farmers Auckland provincial president. He sits on the national board of Federated Farmers.