1 October 2009

North Shore communities gear up for consultation on local ward and board boundaries

North Shore communities can now shift into high gear in order to have a say on the proposed Auckland Council ward and local board boundaries under the ‘super city’, with the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009 receiving the Royal Assent last Tuesday officially making it law, North Shore Deputy Mayor Julia Parfitt said today.

“We are determined to see that local people have the information they need and are afforded a genuine opportunity to have their say on where the boundaries are drawn, and we are committed to helping them every step of the way,” Deputy Mayor Julia Parfitt said.

“It is vital that the community consultation adopted by the Local Government Commission is fair, equitable and robust and that the final outcome is acceptable to our communities because if the Commission gets the boundaries wrong, they will have created rifts and resentment in our local communities that will take years to overcome, and will have compromised the success of the ‘one council’ model.”

“Our communities put a lot of time and effort into their own and the Council submission on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill, and we expect to see the same level of activity over boundary issues.”

“We are holding meetings and supporting a workshop to assist individuals and the wider community to have their say on the proposed boundaries. We will work closely with the Commission to ensure that the final outcome best reflects the needs of our local communities.”

The council is also setting up an online survey to gauge people’s views on boundary issues.

Deputy Mayor Parfitt said that the Council has had a preliminary discussion with the Commission over the approach they intend to take to ensure that the community is consulted and involved, and is working with North Shore Community and Social Services and Raeburn House to hold a workshop on Monday 5 October for community groups to feed in their views to the Commission.

However there will be an opportunity for more structured and comprehensive public input when the Local Government Commission releases its draft boundaries on 20 November. Meanwhile, says Deputy Mayor Parfitt, the council has been advised that the commission will consider comments emailed to info@lgc.govt.nz or posted to PO Box 5362 Wellington.

“The Commission is required to establish wards so as to provide effective and fair representation of local communities of interest on the North Shore, and Auckland Council ward boundaries that coincide, as far as it practicable, with local board boundaries,” Deputy Mayor Parfitt said.

“The Commission has some leeway in deciding the size of the Auckland Council wards but is required to ensure they serve roughly the same population of constituents, and that they reflect the sense of local identity or belonging to a community, which is why getting the size and number of local Auckland Council wards and local boards right is so important to delivering local democracy and fair representation for our communities.”

“The Local Government Commission has told us they intend to publish the draft proposals on the number and size of North Shore boundaries by 20 November and they want to have received community responses to the draft proposals by 11 December, which doesn’t give us very much time. The Council’s Strategy and Finance Committee is meeting this Friday with the six Community Boards on the Shore to share views on local board and Auckland Council ward boundaries,” Deputy Mayor Parfitt said.

ENDS

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