Plea to give local boards real clout

The combined wisdom of New Zealand's community boards and Auckland's legal fraternity say local boards in the Super City must have powers and functions set in law to succeed.

The specific roles of the local boards needed to be enshrined in legislation to prevent them being undermined by the Super Auckland Council, the New Zealand Community Board executive committee told MPs yesterday.

The Auckland District Law Society was of the same mind and proposed three categories of delegations that should apply to local boards.

The deputy chairman of the executive committee, Lyal Cocks, told the Auckland governance legislation select committee that Auckland could learn from the Queenstown Lakes District Council which had delegated the maximum functions legally possible to the Wanaka Community Board he chairs.

"People are very happy. They feel empowered, they have got representation and things are happening," Mr Cocks said.

Beefing up powers and functions of the local boards has been the biggest challenge facing the select committee following community outrage to the narrow definitions in the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill.

The issue has been at the forefront of three weeks of public hearings with story after story about the bad treatment of Auckland's community boards by their council masters.

In its submission, the community board executive said leaving the power with the Auckland Council increased the risk of the authority of the locals boards being diluted and properly representing their communities.

The committee said local boards needed "meaningful" budgets, powers and responsibilities and sufficient "clout" to engage and influence the Auckland Council.

In its submission, the Auckland District Law Society said the bill provided local boards with no powers to do their job, apart from those provided "entirely at the whim of the Auckland Council".

The society said the bill needed to include the concept of subsidiarity, "that is, decisions are best made at the local level unless there is good reason not to".

The society included a detailed list of the functions and powers of local boards to put in the bill. They were in three categories - functions set in law, functions delegated unless there is good reason not to do so, and functions delegated at the discretion of the Auckland Council.

Matthew Casey, QC, of the law society, said under the current bill the Auckland Council could discriminate against local boards for, say, political reasons. Mike Cohen, who chairs the New Zealand Communities' Board and the Devonport Community Board, said there needed to be a minimum of 30 local boards. The bill has suggested 20 to 30.

He said the feeling coming through was for about 16 local boards - with the exception of boards for Waiheke and Great Barrier Islands - which would average about 100,000 people. This was twice the size of Napier (55,000) and Invercargill (50,000).

"Size does matter. The bigger the area and the larger the population, the easier it is for people to be invisible. The greater the population, the greater the risk of failure," Mr Cohen said.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Functions enshrined in law:
* Input into district plan making.
* Animal control, impounding, welfare, dog registration, micro chipping.
* Local parks - maintain develop, allocate space, hire, concessions.
* Recreation centres, local sports facilities.
* Promotion of sport and physical activity.
* Community centres, halls and facilities.
* Local entertainment and cultural venues.
* Public toilets - locations, maintenance and cleaning.
* Beach control - use, cleaning, sand.
* Camping grounds.
* Artworks - location, development and approval.
* Minor safety works, set priority of projects.
* Citizens Advice Bureaus.
* Local art galleries and museums.
* Monitor and report on performance of local board.
* Prepare community action plans.
* Identify needs and preferences of community.
* Support local charities.
* Consider form of community engagement.
* Consider appropriate form of service delivery.

Functions delegated by Auckland Council unless good reason not to:
* Implementation of district and regional plans within local board area.
* Administer district plan, hear and decide resource consents.
* Dog control policy.
* Gambling and gaming machine policy.
* Liquor licensing.
* Brothels - control of location and signage.
* Noise control.
* District promotion, town centre promotion.
* Local shopping centres.
* Public information signage.
* Litter control, bylaw enforcement.
* Shoreline development for public use.
* Events promotion (memorials, celebrations, entertainment, fireworks, markets).
* Leadership and facilitation on social issues.

Functions delegated at discretion of Auckland Council:
* Building consent processing.
* Environmental health control (including food premises licensing).
* Waste management (recycling).
* Road and public place safety.
* Crime prevention.
* Libraries, swimming pools, housing, cemeteries, local economic development.
* Consultation, polls and surveys to identify community needs.