Royal Commission recommends single council for Auckland

Friday, March 27, 2009

The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance has recommended that Auckland, New Zealand's existing local governments be abolished and replaced with a single body.

The eight existing local bodies — the Auckland Regional Council, Auckland City, Manukau City, Waitakere City, North Shore City, Papakura District, Rodney District and Franklin District — would be abolished. They would be replaced by a single Auckland Council responsible for air, water, waste, transport, planning and services, supplemented by six local councils responsible for service delivery. The eight existing mayors would be replaced by a single directly elected Mayor of Auckland, with additional powers to function in a more executive role.

Local Government Minister Rodney Hide welcomed the release of the report, calling it "an important matter for Auckland", but he expressed concern about the democracy of the proposal. "I have some concerns about whether the report provides for adequate local representation in our many diverse communities, and I want to look more closely at this issue," he said.

The government will now consider the report. They are expected to respond within two weeks.

The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance was established in 2007 to produce a plan to reform Auckland's local government to improve economic growth and service delivery in the region. It received over 3,500 written submissions and heard from over 550 individual submitters.

Auckland is New Zealand's largest city.

Sources

Press Release: "Minister Releases Report Of Royal Commission" — New Zealand Government, March 27, 2009
"Report of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance" — Royal Commission on Auckland Governance, March 27, 2009
Edward Gay. "Single council should govern Auckland region - Commission" — New Zealand Herald, March 27, 2009
Tracy Watkins, Michael Field and Adrian Chang. "PM considering 'Super Auckland' report" — Stuff, March 27, 2009

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Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

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Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.