Media Release
9 April 2009

Rodney ignored in super city debate

Rodney Mayor Penny Webster says it is little wonder that her mainly rural district has been lumped in to the Government’s proposed super Auckland metropolitan city structure.

“There has been a clear lack of information and critical analysis particularly in the news media about the differences of the Rodney and Franklin districts and our obvious dissimilar needs and priorities to the rest of the metro Auckland”.

She adds that contrary to much of the public expectation around, rates are highly unlikely to fall under the new super city structure.

“Even the Royal Commission estimated costs of up to $240 million to establish the new super council, with efficiency gains of only around 2.5-3.5% a year.

“Any gains are likely to be eaten up by inflation. So anyone expecting to their rates bill come down once the super city is formed are going to be sorely disappointed.”

Meanwhile, Mrs Webster says analysis of media coverage over the past month of super city articles has shown that:

• In 64% of reports, Rodney was not mentioned at all; and

• In only 16% of cases, there was no greater mention of Rodney than simply its name as one of the affected councils

“It has been most disappointing to see such a lack of critical media analysis about this issue,” Mrs Webster adds. “More questions need to be asked about how well the people in the outer rural districts of Franklin and Rodney will be served in the super city structure.”

She says Rodney and Franklin Districts are markedly different from metropolitan Auckland.

“For instance, Rodney comprises of 15 dispersed, mainly coastal, townships and communities which have little contact with central Auckland. The district has 1710 kilometres of roading, 700 km of which are stilled unsealed and have high numbers of vehicle movements per day.

“Rodney has few public transport services, 10 standalone sewerage systems and seven water supply systems. Even on Whangaparaoa Peninsula, many households still remain on tank water.

“Rodney District’s key priorities over the next few years relate to new and upgraded sewerage systems at Kumeu, Huapai, Riverhead, Helensville and Wellsford – rather than cycleways and public transport issues,” Mrs Webster concluded

ENDS

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