Editorial: Super City plan will need tweaks

Opinion

Legislation to set up a "super" Auckland Council emerged from a select committee of Parliament yesterday with something for those who fear a loss of local government.

The committee has written some fine words about the place of the proposed local boards in the system. "We believe empowered, well-resourced local boards will allow local voices to be heard sufficiently," it says.

It proposes amendments to "ensure", it says, "that decision-making by the two tiers of the Auckland Council are allocated according to clear principles". The council and boards would have "distinct roles rather than operate in a hierarchical relationship".

But anyone looking for the "distinct roles" to be specified in the law will look in vain.

It has been left to the council to choose the responsibilities it is prepared to delegate to local boards. The law will insist only that it identifies them in its statutory long-term and annual plans.

The committee has also written in the bill clauses that will require the council to provide the boards with some certainty of funds through a formal funding policy that must take into account the level of services and social need in each community.

But boards will have no independent source of revenue and no right to acquire property or hire staff.

While the 20 to 30 boards - the number has still to be decided - will have no defined powers, the committee believes they ought to be responsible for libraries, swimming pools, community facilities, promotion of local economic development and social services, improving streetscapes, signs, graffiti prevention and proposing bylaws to reflect local preferences and concerns.

The committee has been more robust when it came to stressing the grounds on which the Auckland Council could over-rule a board's desires.

It may do so whenever it thinks the effects would be felt beyond a board's area, or the activity needs to be aligned with the council's decisions, or the benefits of a consistent or co-ordinated approach outweigh the needs and preferences of a local area.

Other significant changes to the legislation are much as indicated last week.

All 20 seats on the Auckland Council will be elected from wards. There will be no reserved seats for Maori. The rural districts of Rodney and Franklin will be divided between Auckland and their neighbouring districts.

It remains for the Local Government Commission to divide the Auckland region into council wards and local boards.

For wards, it has been given the option of designing multi-member constituencies, which means they could be of variable size to represent natural divisions of the region, North Shore, Waitakere, the isthmus, Pakuranga-Howick and South Auckland. Nor will the board areas be of equal size.

The amended bill directs the commission to reflect communities of interest as far as possible. Waiheke and Great Barrier islands are assured of their own boards. The boundaries of board areas should conform to those of council wards wherever possible.

The committee's electoral directions look sound, except for the regrettable exclusion of Maori electorates and half of Rodney and Franklin. Both these short-sighted decisions will probably have to be repaired in time. The powers of local boards will also be resolved in practice.

If they are well drawn to reflect cohesive communities, they will be able to press for the autonomy and finance to distinguish their areas. If they are given amorphous areas and allowed to be no more than sounding boards for discontent, it will be a loss for local government.