Transport body swells

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

A committee charged with shaping Auckland's transport future has ballooned to more than twice the size of its parent regional council.

The regional land transport committee, responsible for recommending transport priorities to Government funders, was swollen from 22 to 31 members at a confidential Auckland Regional Council meeting in which the entire 13-strong council was voted on to it.

But in the face of heavy criticism both within and outside its ranks, the council is likely to reverse the decision at its next full meeting in a notice of motion led by transport committee chairwoman and councillor Catherine Harland.

Ms Harland assured the newly enlarged committee at a session attended yesterday by 26 members that seven regional councillors had signed a call for it to be scaled back to more manageable proportions.

Its aggrandizement followed the absence from a regional council meeting last week of three councillors, leaving a motion by Waitakere representative Paul Walbran for the mass sign-on to the committee to be pushed through by six votes to four.

The council previously had just three members on the committee, sitting with representatives of city and district councils and interest groups such as the Automobile Association and public transport users.

But it was required under new transport legislation to reconstitute the committee's membership.

Ms Harland expressed confidence yesterday that the council would end up with a relatively modest five representatives, the same as recommended to it by a subcommittee that also canvassed candidates for appointments from six interest groups listed in the legislation.

They are charged with representing statutory objectives of economic development, safety and personal security, public health, access and mobility, environmental sustainability, and cultural interests.

Their appointments followed extensive newspaper advertising as well as more direct approaches to potential candidates.

But Auckland Mayor Forum chairman John Law, of Rodney District, said the exercise was frustrated by "disarray within the ARC" and feared it would harm Government confidence in the region's ability to make vital transport spending decisions for itself. "They obviously don't trust each other," he said before yesterday's meeting.

"You don't put all your members on to a regional committee - from a statutory point of view it is an absolute abuse of ethics."

Mr Walbran strongly disputed this, saying all the council's other standing committees comprised its full membership and transport was too important to have any lesser democratic accountability.

Northern Employers and Manufacturers' Association chief executive Alastair Thompson attacked Mr Walbran and his supporters for allegedly stacking the committee with those "who oppose completing our long-planned roading network".