Date: 12 November, 2013

Joint statement on behalf of Far North, Kaipara and Whangarei District and Northland Regional Councils

Today’s announcement on potential local government reform has been received by Northland’s local body leaders who are pledging to work together to ensure the resulting outcome is best for Northland as a whole – irrespective of their council’s individual position on the issue.

The Local Government Commission today announced its preferred model for Northland; a single unitary body supported by community boards. Its decision does not ultimately rule out the use of local boards as allowed for under new legislation introduced to Parliament recently.

The commission became involved after an application during the previous term of the Far North District Council for a unitary authority based around its existing district boundaries. This body would encompass the powers and responsibilities of both a district and regional council.

Since that application was filed the region’s political landscape has changed markedly, with new mayors in both the Far North (John Carter) and Whangarei Districts (Sheryl Mai) and a new chairman for the Northland Regional Council (Bill Shepherd).

All three political leaders – and John Robertson, Chairman of Commissioners for the Kaipara District Council – were at Waitangi today (SUBS: Tues 12 Nov) for the commission’s announcement, delivering a joint statement in its wake.

The four, together with senior management across all four councils, met at Waitangi today as the Northland Mayoral Forum and agreed to form a working party to collectively examine the implications of today’s recommendation going forward.

The four say while their individual councils will still now need to meet to look at the implications for them and their ratepayers, collectively they are pleased that in one regard the commission’s recommendation ends months of uncertainty.

The four leaders say the challenge now is to work to ensure Northlanders collectively are educated to the pros and cons of the option as outlined by the commission and empowered to make the decisions they feel are best for them.

And they say irrespective of what that outcome may ultimately be, they want to work collectively as much as possible to ensure the best result for Northland.

All four representatives say while it is still early days, there are also a number of opportunities to work more closely and productively under the current local government arrangements in the region.

They paid tribute to the commission for the efforts it had gone to address the views expressed by the community during the process to date.

ENDS

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