Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer

Friday, 31 May 2013

Get Unitary Plan feedback in because public now shut out of next round

“Any late public feedback on the draft Unitary Plan will be accepted by the council, so any one who misses today’s 5pm deadline still has the long weekend at the very least to get organised and should because further public opportunities in the coming months have been shut down,” says Auckland Councillor for Orakei, Cameron Brewer.

Mr Brewer says despite a recent vote by councillors to allow for further “open meetings”, Mayor Len Brown and other council communications are now only pointing to closed workshops, which is not good enough given the huge level of concern and confusion among the public particularly around new and conflicting information.

“At the last Auckland Plan Committee meeting I passed a resolution that local elected representatives could work with planning staff to host further open meetings if they wanted to. However despite this being agreed to by almost all councillors, the Mayor’s now only promising that ‘during June and July, the council will host workshops with local boards and key stakeholders to work through potential changes to the plan’*…before the final draft plan is published and formally notified. That is not open and transparent as the Mayor promised to be!”

Fifteen members of the Auckland Plan Committee voted on 14 May to support Mr Brewer’s amendment which was seconded by Councillor Christine Fletcher to ‘support that ward councillors and local boards work with officers to decide what collaborative workshops and open meetings are required and that are specific to their area.’ Only Councillor Penny Webster voted against it.

“Last week the Mayor and a majority of councillors refused to give the public an extension of time to get their feedback in. Now, the Mayor is clearly resistant to hosting any further open meetings. However, just two weeks ago a clear majority of councillors voted to enable ward councillors and local boards to hold further open meetings if that’s what they feel their community wants and needs. This formally agreed resolution by council now needs to be honoured.

“Workshops sound nice and collaborative but nonetheless they remain secret meetings with only hand-picked people invited and the wider public shut out.

“I call on the Mayor to allow for possible open meetings organised by the council on major local sticking points after 31 May if deemed necessary by local elected representatives. Workshops behind closed doors won’t cut the mustard with the community. They do not want to be shut out of the decision-making process over the next few months,” says Cameron Brewer.

Feedback on the draft Unitary Plan can be made via www.shapeauckland.co.nz

Ends

© Scoop Media