Date: 10 September, 2009

Super City Boundary Change ‘Workable’ For NRC

Initial investigations show a Government proposal that would expand the Northland region’s boundary as far south as Waiwera is workable from the Northland Regional Council’s perspective, its Chairman says.

The Auckland Governance Select Committee last week recommended splitting the current Rodney District in two with the area north of Waiwera merging with Kaipara District.

Northland Regional Council (NRC) Chairman Mark Farnsworth says subsequent scoping work by NRC staff indicates that while there was a raft of issues which would need to be addressed as a result of such a change, the NRC could easily cope.

“As a Council, we didn’t lobby to have the boundary changed, but if required we could more than adequately deal with it.”

He says as proposed, the boundary shift would see the Northland’s region’s overall size swell by roughly 10 percent to about 1.38 million hectares and its population by about 23,000 people to more than 170,000.

“Obviously there are all manner of issues that we as a Council would need to work through including representation, rating, planning and Kaipara Harbour management considerations; however, these are not insurmountable.”

While his Auckland Regional Council counterpart has raised concerns about the resources of the NRC to manage coastal development, Mr Farnsworth says he does not believe that will be the case.

He says even with its current boundary, the Northland region’s more than 3000km long coastline is already one of the country’s largest.

“For many, many years we have coped with the development pressures of being the neighbours of a large successful urban economy and there is no reason whatsoever why this should change. “

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Mr Farnsworth says the Kaipara District Council (KDC) would be far more greatly affected than the NRC by the proposed changes as its District population would double and the geographical area it covered would also increase greatly.

He says the NRC notes Kaipara Mayor Neil Tiller’s concerns that the proposed boundary would still leave responsibility for the Kaipara Harbour split between the Northland Regional and Auckland Councils
The Select Committee has recommended the Northland Regional Council and the Auckland Council “review arrangements for the future management of the Kaipara Harbour and catchment”.

Mr Farnsworth says it may be as late as March next year before any boundary changes are confirmed, however, the Northland Regional Council is keen to work with the KDC, Central Government and other interested parties in whatever way it could to try to reach a positive and mutually beneficial outcome.

“At this early stage it’s also hard to accurately gauge the feelings of the wider Northland public about the Select Committee’s recommendations.”
“Obviously a crucial part of this process for us will be working with the community in the coming weeks to see what it wants and striving to ensure the final shape of our region reflects this as much as possible.”

ENDS

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