New Research Out on the Auckland Transition
I am pleased to see Auckland City Council has released the results of research into the views of residents and ratepayers about regional governance and how to keep people informed as Auckland transitions into a super-city.
We support the Government's desire to create a functional, integrated regional entity that will enable Auckland to fulfil its potential in the national economy.
But the researchers found that there are still some serious concerns among residents - about local issues being ignored; about basic services being maintained; and generally a feeling of not having enough information or having a chance to make their own views known.
The negative responses are especially high in Franklin and Papakura, where 70 and 66 per cent of people respectively think the shift to a super-city will have a negative impact on the region - and even among Auckland City residents, who are the most supportive of the change, only 46 per cent felt it would have a positive impact.
Some concrete actions will help, like ensuring that the local boards which will be established will have real influence on local decisions, local assets and local effects. Taking some decisions out of the hands of elected members and giving them to the directors of council-controlled organisations should help stop politics getting in the way of important decisions in infrastructure and other areas, but those directors must be accountable to the communities they operate in.
With such a major transition underway, residents and ratepayers need certainty and to have their voices heard - it's their city, after all. In a year when we're trying to encourage voter turnout at the local body elections, it's important people feel that they matter and that they have a part to play in local democracy.
Hopefully this research can help this to happen for all Aucklanders.
The executive summary and full research report are freely available on the Auckland City Council website: http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/supercity/
Lawrence Yule
President, Local Government New Zealand
Posted 24 February 2010
