Draft proposal for regional governance

Over the past four months, council officers have been working with the Regional Governance Committee on the council's submission to the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance.

Auckland city's Deputy Mayor, David Hay says: "To develop our submission we looked at best practice from around the world including the recent restructuring of local governance in Brisbane, London and Toronto.

"We also sought the views of key stakeholders including business organisations, Maori leaders, community boards and residents and ratepayers of Auckland," he says.

The officers draft submission "People and Place Building, Mapping out the future governance of the Auckland region" will be available on the council's web site today before it is considered at the Regional Governance Committee meeting on 3 April.

This document is an officers' report only at this stage, which has not yet been formally considered by the council.

The officers' draft submission will be a starting point for discussion by councillors. "We will be considering a final submission at the 17 April council meeting," said Mr Hay.

"We want to see long-lasting change and believe that tinkering around the edges or maintaining the status quo will not achieve the sort of outcome Auckland or New Zealand need to be desirable places to live, work, visit and compete in the global marketplace.

"We want our submission to focus on giving Auckland the best foundation for the future," says Mr Hay.

The officers' draft document proposes a single legal entity for the region with a streamlined political structure incorporating:

one Lord Mayor
one Chief Executive
four area mayors
21 neighbourhood councillors.
The officers suggested approach provides for a democratically elected council, which can speak for the interests of the region and be accountable at the local level.

The Lord Mayor together with the four area mayors and two neighbourhood councillors would sit on the civic board, which would provide collective leadership responsibility for the region, leadership and development of key plans and create a link to central government.

There would also be standing committees (established to support the council, the civic board and the organisation), and area committees (chaired by the area mayors and including the neighbourhood councillors for each area). These would provide the connection between local areas and the region.

The structure of the organisation that would support this proposal is still at a very early stage and would be the primary responsibility of the chief executive.

Mr Hay says: "I'd like to emphasise that Auckland City Council is just one contributor to the debate on Auckland's governance structure."