27 June 2013

Auckland Council must investigate why under-30s are unaware of draft Unitary Plan

Manurewa Local Board Member, 22 year old Simeon Brown is calling on Auckland Council to undertake a full investigate into why most under-30s are unaware of the draft Unitary Plan.

A survey released by Auckland Council earlier in the week found that 60% of under 30s are not aware of the Unitary Plan. This is compared with 59% of the population of Auckland at large.

“This is an absolutely unacceptable level of unawareness of the plan,” says Manurewa Local Board Member Simeon Brown.

“An investigation needs to be urgently undertaken to find out what went wrong during the initial consultation on the draft Unitary Plan. Auckland Mayor Len Brown said on the 2nd of May that he was ‘delighted’ with the level and quality of input from young Aucklanders on the Unitary Plan. Now that we have the hard cold facts, I want to know if the Mayor is still delighted.

“Since October last year I have been urging Auckland Council to put young people at the forefront of the development of the plan, but this has been ignored.

“After all this plan is about young people. It will be my generation which will pay for this plan and its consequences. We will be the ones who will see it come into effect.

“Instead the Mayor and the Unitary Plan team have spoken up the use of social media engagement with young people and the Shape Auckland website. Engagement which hasn’t worked according to Auckland Council’s own research.

“With the Unitary Plan debate still taking place, an investigation must be urgently undertaken so young people are not further isolated from having their say in the months to come.

“I find ironic that Auckland Council is also currently consulting on the Children and Young People’s Strategic Action Plan which is asking people to provide ‘actions’ on how they will put Children and Young People first in Auckland.

“Maybe Auckland Council should submit the first action to this plan, and commit to put some action to their words and actually put children and young people first in the Unitary Plan debate so young people aren’t further isolated.

“As I have been saying all along, if we don’t get this plan right for young people, then young people will just continue to move to Australia,” concludes Mr Brown.

ENDS

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