KEY POINTS:
Rodney District Council is financially, morally and organisationally bankrupt, the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Auckland Governance was told yesterday.
The claim, by Phil Perrott, was one of several brickbats thrown at the region's northernmost and largest council by area on the first of two days of public hearings in Orewa.
The anti-council rhetoric was at odds with strong local support for Franklin and Papakura district councils at earlier public hearings in Pukekohe and Papakura.
Mr Perrott expressed a common local feeling that the council had a disproportionate number of staff to population and services, high rates, rising debt, no operative district plan and was embarking on a campaign to disband the Auckland Regional Council.
"The ARC is the only body responsible for long-term regional planning and as such has a huge amount to play," Mr Perrott said in his submission.
Mr Perrott's reason for calling the council "morally bankrupt" arises from a four-year battle over a landfill issue on his Dairy Flat farm which has cost him $130,000 and is continuing. The commission asked him to provide details.
Jeanne and Martin Emery urged the commission to disband the Rodney District Council and amalgamate the Hibiscus Coast areas of Orewa and Whangaparaoa with North Shore City .
As members of the Orewa Residents' Association, they were unhappy at the council for ignoring the wishes of 80 per cent of people in Orewa who were opposed to high-rise development in the coastal town. "We have got no voice," Mr Emery said.
Puhoi resident Werner Fischer gave the example of a battle in the historic village to illustrate how development in Rodney occurred by "deception", rather than planning.
The community had been fighting plans by a developer who had bought a farm at the entrance to Puhoi to "dump a subdivision of 63 identical townhouses in our midst".
"We are at the end of the motorway and every developer is zooming up and having a look. We are under intense pressure.
"If you strengthen the ARC and allow them to manage growth that would be a huge value to a community like ours," Mr Fischer said.
Dianne and Cedric McLeod, who run a dairy farm at the northern end of the South Kaipara Head, said rates were rising at an alarming level with no benefits, particularly for the people of southwest Rodney.
Mrs McLeod told the commission it was important Rodney retained its unique character.
"We recognise that Rodney has not been performing well in many respects, but what we like about Rodney is that our council is local and accessible," she said.
Larry Mitchell, a local government consultant who stood unsuccessfully for the mayoralty last year, said Rodney should be broken up with the rural area north of Puhoi joining Northland, the western ward joining Waitakere City and the Hibiscus Coast joining North Shore City.
Rodney District Council representatives will appear before the commission tomorrow.
