Transport plans upset leaders

Two Auckland leaders want the Government to shelve plans for a mega-business to oversee all transport functions for the Super City.

Other leaders wants changes to Auckland Transport and other council-controlled organisations (CCOs) to make them more accountable to the Auckland Council and ratepayers.

Auckland Transport is by far the largest of seven planned CCOs. It will be responsible for spending more than half of Auckland's $1.3 billion rates to run everything from major roads to fixing broken footpaths and potholes.

Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee yesterday said the proposal in the Government's third and final piece of Super City legislation for Auckland Transport was the most objectionable aspect and should be shelved.

"It means that Auckland will not have integrated decision-making, and it will prevent the region and its communities from having genuine input into transport-related decisions affecting their local areas and across the region," he said.

Manukau Mayor and Super City mayoral candidate Len Brown told the Auckland governance select committee that while the council operated a number of CCOs it did not like Auckland Transport from the word go.

"I urge you to step back and leave it with the [Auckland] council to have direct nuts and bolts control of transport," he said.

Mr Brown said if elected mayor his primary job would be transport.

"How can I do that if transport is sitting in someone else's hands, not directly accountable?" he asked.

Mr Lee and the Waitakere City Council said Auckland Transport was the idea of Transport Minister Steven Joyce and that the Treasury, Internal Affairs, the Ministry for the Environment and Ministry of Economic Development advised Cabinet against setting up a CCO for transport.

Internal Affairs, overseeing the Super City reforms, believed elected members, "who are solely responsible for rating levels, need to be clearly accountable for transport funding decisions".

The Treasury believed there was "no clear or strong rationale for central Government mandating a unique approach to transport decision-making in Auckland".

Waitakere submitted it would be difficult to reverse the Cabinet decision to proceed with Auckland Transport, but the law should be amended to allow the Auckland Council to review it and other CCOs before July 2012.

On Friday, Mr Joyce said Auckland Transport was being modelled on the Transport Agency - the Government's transport operating arm which is run by a board.

Like everything, he said, that agency had its strengths and weaknesses, "but I think it's got the right balance between political oversight and operational governance".

Mr Joyce said he believed Auckland politicians under-estimated the size of the Super City job and needed some tools to help them do it.

Auckland City Mayor John Banks, who is also standing for the Super City mayoralty, added his council's voice against the transport model.

"We have no doubt some regional transport projects would benefit from having a very focused delivery entity ... But most transport activities should be undertaken by Auckland Council."

- additional reporting: Mathew Dearnaley