New boundary 'rips heart of Manurewa'

Colleen Brown. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

The new Manurewa local board will lose funding and risks becoming a ghetto as a result of the boundaries for the Super City, say two Manukau city councillors.

Colleen Brown and Anne Candy were shocked at the decision of the Local Government Commission to move the Manurewa central business district from the Manurewa ward to the Manukau ward.

They said this would transfer $12.5 million of the $44.8 million annual rate take from Manurewa to Manukau.

The effect would be to make it harder for the Manurewa local board to advocate for funds from the Auckland Council.

As well, the new Manukau ward had the added advantage of the expanding rates base from Auckland Airport, the two Manurewa ward councillors said.

Said Anne Candy: "This decision has ripped the economic heart of the Manurewa ward and I fear that such a move will turn the area into a ghetto."

On Thursday, the Local Government Commission released the final boundaries of the 12 wards and 21 local boards.

There are two new local boards from the 19 proposed local boards in November.

Both new local boards have been carved off from the earlier proposed Waitakere ward. They are Upper Harbour (from Whenuapai to Albany) and Henderson-Massey.

The commission has made a number of name changes to the wards and local boards to "reflect the need for a fresh approach".

The Howick-Pakuranga-Botany ward and local board has been renamed Te Irirangi, the Glenfield-Birkenhead local board renamed Kaipatiki and the Mt Roskill local board renamed Puketapapa.

The largest local board, Te Irirangi, with a population of 128,100, similar in size to the Hamilton City Council (129,249).

The second largest local board, Henderson-Massey (109,600) is slightly bigger than the Tauranga City Council's population (103,632).

The roles and functions of the local boards are the subject of a discussion paper by the agency designing the Super City, with feedback open until March 26.

The Auckland Transition Agency is not expected to announce the initial budgets of local boards until August.

That is less than 10 weeks before the local body elections on October 9.