KEY POINTS:
Auckland councils are bickering over each other's plans for reshaping the region with the looming deadline for submissions to the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Auckland Governance.
Hundreds of submissions have been received by the commission and the figure is expected to swell to more than 1000 by the time submissions close at 4pm tomorrow.
The region's seven territorial councils and regional council finalised their submissions on Friday, ranging from little change to the status quo to radical proposals by Auckland City Council and the Auckland Regional Council for a single super city.
Waitakere City was the last council out of the blocks with a plan to streamline the seven territorial councils to four, bringing a strong retort from Rodney Mayor Penny Webster that it was trying to pinch its treasures, such as the Muriwai gannet colony.
But Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey said his council was only trying to survive annihilation by a plan of its big sister, Auckland City, to lump the region's councils into one super city.
"We are being pressed to survive."
At the southern end of Auckland, Papakura District Council has run a slick public-relations campaign to ward off allcomers, including a plan by Manukau City Council to gobble up the Papakura and Franklin districts.
Papakura, population 40,000, secured its borders for a day last week.
The mayor and the eight councillors manned roadblocks at the four main roads in and out of town and issued residents with mock green passports.
Mayor Calum Penrose said the district faced a critical challenge: "With councils and other organisations throwing their weight around, there's a real danger that smaller players, such as Papakura, will be gobbled up in the noise."
Franklin, on the other hand, wants to leave the clutches of metropolitan Auckland and become a separate council in the rural-based Waikato.
Another hot topic for debate is whether Auckland should have a lord mayor and, if so, whether he or she would be elected at large or by peers.
Auckland City, whose mayor, John Banks, is being coy about his political ambitions under a new Auckland set-up, favours a mayor elected at large.
Some councillors believe this will result in a sporting or television personality or former national politician ending up the leader for 1.3 million Aucklanders.
It could also lead to the situation in the last council where Mayor Dick Hubbard was elected on a landslide, only to be dragged down by a divided City Vision team under the erratic leadership of Dr Bruce Hucker.
The Auckland Regional Council, where councillors currently elect a chairman, advocate electing a super mayor from among peers.
The other area where there is a difference of opinion among councils is the type and level of grassroots democracy.
Most councils favour a continuation of some kind of community boards, preferably with more grunt and money to look after local issues.
Submissions to the royal commission will start going up on its website this week and public hearings begin next month.
The commission, chaired by retired High Court judge Peter Salmon, QC, has until December 1 to make recommendations to the Government.
The changes are expected to be in place for the 2010 local body elections.
ON THE WEB
www.royalcommission.govt.nz
