Comment on Auckland SuperCity speculation

Speculation on SuperCity could be wide of the mark.

Alternative could include 30 Community Councils.

Final recommendations must have public support.

Today’s NZ Herald lead story suggests that the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance has already decided that the Auckland region will become one city with one council and a directly-elected mayor.

The Royal Commission has moved to rebut that story as ‘speculation’ – and rightly so.

The Commission has received thousands of submissions and has itself commissioned a number of research papers to assist it in reaching its conclusions and recommendations.

In a media release this afternoon the Commission referred to Auckland’s governance as  “a complex, multi-layered issue”

It has become quite clear that the Commission is as much concerned with the purely local governance of the wide variety of Auckland’s local communities as it is with governance at a  regional level.

While there seems little doubt that governance at a regional level will be greatly strengthened, equally propable is that the existing cities will have their powers curtailed – or be abolished altogether.

Within that scenario a possible – even likely - Â structure would be a single Greater Auckland Council and up to 30 Community Councils to be responsible for purely local issues.

These Community Councils would have greater powers than existing Community Boards and be largely based on existing communities within the region.

Whatever the final Commission Report may recommend it is essential that such recommendations are supported by the people of the region..

ENDS

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