KEY POINTS:
A u-turn by Action Hobson councillors over Auckland City Council's proposed billboard ban is being hailed by industry but lambasted by leaders of both the council's main political groups.
The two-member Action Hobson team of Christine Caughey and Richard Simpson joined the Outdoor Advertising Association yesterday in a bold announcement that the billboard controversy was "set to be resolved" by a compromise proposal of their making.
They called for support from the rest of the council to withdraw the proposed blanket ban on billboards in central Auckland in favour of an improved regulatory regime which would include the removal of signs on designated heritage buildings and tight controls in character areas.
Their proposal, including a joint council-industry "commission" and a process to deal swiftly with public complaints, won immediate support from the Heart of the City business association.
Chief executive Alex Swney said a collaborative approach to dealing with a minority of illegal signs offered the council an alternative to the "blunderbuss"' of a blanket ban.
Property Council chief executive Connal Townsend said: "A healthy dose of commonsense policy-making would save millions of dollars, hundreds of jobs, and significantly contribute to the visual amenity of Auckland City."
But the proposal has come just three days before the close of submissions on the council's proposed new outdoor advertising bylaw, which also bans signs above shop verandas, bringing accusations from both its City Vision and Auckland Citizens and Ratepayers Now political teams that the Action Hobson team was undermining due process.
"Action Hobson councillors have realised they are on a hiding to nothing and now want to cuddle up to the industry they sought to decimate," said C&R Now leader Scott Milne, who was joined by four of his team members in December in voting against the bylaw proposal.
They were outvoted by 14 councillors who supported the bylaw, including Ms Caughey and Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard.
Mr Simpson was absent from the meeting and did not vote, but said last night that as representatives of the ward covering central Auckland, he and Ms Caughey believed it essential to end the standoff between the advertising industry and the council.
He accused the other council groupings of "playing political games" rather than supporting a genuine attempt to make Auckland a better city.
His team-mate said she was bowing not to political pressure, but to a realisation that the bylaw was polarising parties at Auckland's expense.
"This is about achieving ... a much better quality city, and I don't believe the current course that has been embarked on is going to deliver that," Ms Caughey said.
But Mr Milne accused the pair of a desperate bid to head off "political suicide" and of trying to undermine council processes.
He said Ms Caughey, a qualified planner and champion of better urban design, had been one of four councillors on a working party which drafted the "unworkable, anti-business and ill-conceived" bylaw.
Mr Milne, who also represents the Hobson ward, said his political team was working with industry representatives to modify the advertising ban through the council's agreed hearings process.
The council has received several hundred submissions, which a panel of five councillors and an independent urban design expert will consider at hearings in April before the council votes in May on their findings.
Deputy Mayor and City Vision leader Bruce Hucker said he was encouraging his colleagues not to accept invitations to attend a meeting today with the Action Hobson team and the Outdoor Advertising Association.
"While Action Hobson may have sincere intentions, they are undermining the integrity of a process we have put in place," he said.
Mr Hubbard referred inquiries to Dr Hucker, who said the mayor had told him he would not attend today's meeting.
