Greater Auckland Council

The wheels of the local bureaucracy continue to rotate. After the proposal back in December last year to amalgamate the Auckland councils into 3, which was roundly set upon as an underhanded proposition, the councils have been doing further work, heading toward getting one of their ilk elected as Lord Mare.

Supposedly the newly mooted Greater Auckland Council (GAC) is to provide regional leadership for Auckland taking the existing roles of the Auckland Regional Council together with an expanded role in regional economic development, tourism promotion and events management, funding and owning regional facilities and amenities, and advocacy to central government on regional issues.

The GAC will be driven by recommendations from the Regional Sustainable Development Forum (RSDF) whose role would be the development and recommendation to the GAC of the One Plan which would drive the region with supposedly with consensus.

Membership of the GAC could be via the status quo - 14 elected members as are now elected to the ARC. Other alternatives are all looking to expand the fiefdoms of TA's - needing legislation to implement.

A hot issue is how the GAC Chair would be elected. It could done internally within its own membership or via a directly elected Lord Mayor (this requires legislation).

Government could be expected to be bound by the One Plan decisions as they are likely to have a rep or two cutting their teeth on the RSDF making sure the plebs are toeing the central party line. Hell knows, they might even provide some funding to go with this representation - one can assume no rep, no funds! Now I know where Mallardrome MKII (as I blogged earlier) is going to be funded!

Maori are likely to have their own consultation process, with full voting rights, as is usual, being different and separate from general public, continuing to promote apartheid in this country.

Any decisions implemented by the GAC from The Plan will be implemented without further consultation directly into local TA's LTCCP's. Nice one - so much for community consultation.

Existing regional forums could be wiped - good for reduction in bureaucracy - yeah right! Local TA's will have to cede sovereignty in more areas than they would care to admit. To implement the GAC and The Plan, there will have to be serious horse trading with all councils. One sticking point already identified is Watercare - Auckland City is pumping up the price of Metrowater now ready for value on sale!

If there are legislation changes needed these will be actioned before the next crop of suspects get elected this October.

Various parts of this topic can be read at;
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0705/S00530.htm

Full report at Stronger Auckland
http://www.strongerauckland.org.nz