Boundaries, roles rile local leaders

From Devonport to Papatoetoe and across to the Waitakere Ranges, there is gnashing of teeth at the boundaries and roles of communities in the Auckland Super City.

Devonport Community Board chairman Mike Cohen, who also chairs the New Zealand Communities' Board, said the proposed boundaries had the potential to undermine the very essence of the local boards.

Eden-Albert Community Board chairman Chris Dempsey said the roles, powers and responsibilities of the local boards had been devised for them to exist at the leisure of the Super Auckland Council.

Communities have until Friday to give feedback to the Local Government Commission on the proposed boundaries for the Auckland Council and 19 local boards - one less than the 20 to 30 recommended by the Government.

Local Government Minister Rodney Hide has also released the final piece of Super City legislation, which does little to flesh out the mechanics of the boards beyond the principle that local matters will be left to local boards unless they are of regional importance.

In a paper entitled "Super sizing local boards", Peter McKinlay, director of local government at Auckland University of Technology, said the average local board member would represent 12,740 people. The average population per board was 80,000.

These figures leave aside small local boards for Great Barrier and Waiheke Island, plus the Rodney and Franklin boards, which were stipulated by the Government.

The 15 "core" local boards, he said, raised the question of whether the commission had an unspoken agenda of reducing representation, contrary to the strong public arguments in support of strengthening local democracy.

Mr McKinlay said that in France there was an elected official for every 120 people. The ratio was one for 250 in Germany and one for 2600 in Britain.

He said the ratio of one for 12,740 in Auckland was inadequate for democratic niceties and to hold the Auckland Council - "a major non-contestable monopoly" - to account.

He wants the commission to create more local boards, as does Mr Cohen, whose national body called for more than 30 local boards.

The commission opted for fewer local boards to give them the critical mass and muscle needed to provide local services. Some of the boards will be bigger than the city councils of Hamilton, Tauranga and Dunedin.

Mr Cohen is fighting two battles - to create a local board for the fiercely independent community of Devonport and creating a system of local government that is relevant to local people.

A single ward and local board for Waitakere representing 166,150 people has received a mixed reaction.

Henderson Community Board chairwoman Elizabeth Grimmer said there would be advantages with pooling resources and working as a team, but the board should have 12 members and not nine as proposed.

Ratepayer groups are meeting in Waitakere tonight to discuss the lack of representation on the largest proposed local board in Auckland.

Mrs Grimmer was confident that what Mr Hide and other ministers had promised about beefing up the powers of local boards would happen, but had concerns with plans to put local transport issues, such as the location of bus stops and pedestrian crossings, into a standalone transport agency.

Papatoetoe Community Board chairman Stephen Grey was also confident local boards would have more discretionary power and autonomy than existing community boards, but has concerns with the Otara-Papatoetoe board boundary within the Manukau ward.

Central Manukau had been included in the Manurewa ward, prompting Mr Grey to ask if Westfield would change its name from the Manukau shopping centre to the Manurewa shopping centre.

Another anomaly has arisen in Auckland City where the Mt Eden and Dominion Rd shops have been split between different wards - and the central city ward has been named after Maungawhau, the Maori name for Mt Eden.

DEMOCRACY BY NUMBERS

Number of people per elected official

France - 1:120.
Germany - 1:250.
Britain - 1:2600.
*Auckland - 1:12,740.

*Number for core local boards