26 July 2009

The eyes of local communities will be on the Prime Minister

Expectations are running high among local government leaders attending this week’s Local Government New Zealand Conference for a clear signal from the Prime Minister that local communities will retain their right to determine their own local governance matters, according to North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams.

“Prime Minister John Key’s government has embarked on a radical ‘shake up’ of local government, both in Auckland and across the country, and his official opening address to the Local Government New Zealand Conference tomorrow morning needs to send a clear signal to local government leaders that his government is hearing the message that local communities have a right to determine their own local destiny,” Mayor Andrew Williams said.

“It’s fair to say that those of us from greater Auckland have been impressed by the Prime Minister’s commitment to listening to local communities over the government’s sweeping ‘super city’ reforms, and have been reassured by the select committee process and the acceptance by the Associate Minister of Local Government and Committee Chairman John Carter that the ‘super city’plan needs major changes.”

“The government appears to be moving toward accepting that all members of the new Auckland Council are to be elected to represent wards and not elected from ‘at large’ across the region, and that the second tier of ‘community councils’ are to have genuine roles, functions and powers set out in statute and guaranteed funding and resourcing so they can deliver local services to their communities.”

“However, perhaps the wider issue of concern is the government’s review of the Local Government Act which sets out to reshape local government by capping budgets, kerbing consultation, and cutting services back to a mythical core of roads, rubbish and water.”

“Certainly, the people who have been in touch with me in advance of the conference want to hear a clear and unambiguous message from the Prime Minister that his government now accepts that communities are not corporations and that the role of ‘place shaping’ and enhancing the ‘wellbeing’ of local communities is indeed a ‘core service’ of local government.”

“Even his own Finance Minister, Bill English, accepts that councils face a “big spike in costs over the next decade” to fund the $30 billion of infrastructure investments vital to deal with decades of underinvestment and has proposed a local body “bond bank” to ease the pressure on forecast rates rises, and puts the lie to those others in government who find it convenient to use this planned spending to paint a picture of local government recklessly spending money on pet projects without any regard what-so-ever for ratepayers.”

“The eyes of local communities up and down the country will be on the Prime Minister on Monday morning, and expectations are running high. I’m sure John Key knows that he needs to reassure local communities that he has heard their legitimate concerns over his reforms, and will abandon the ideological Act Party radicalism of his local government Minister Rodney Hide in favour of a more realistic and pragmatic path to change,” Mayor Andrew Williams said.

Note: The Prime Minister’s Official Opening Address to the Local Government New Zealand Conference is scheduled for 8:45am to 10:15am Monday 27 July 2009, at the Christchurch Convention Centre, Christchurch.

ENDS

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