Enlarged Kaipara District is workable but needs harbour focus

Combining areas of Rodney District north of the Puhoi and Makarau Rivers with Kaipara District will produce a workable local authority, says Kaipara Mayor Neil Tiller, commenting on the Local Government ( Auckland Council ) Bill No 2 which was made public today (Friday September 4).

“It’s pretty much as we expected and we can make it work,” Mayor Tiller says.

“It appears that there are about 20,000 people in the area that is coming north and we consider a population of around 40,000 an ideal size for a unit of local government covering such a large geographic area.”

However, Mayor Tiller has concerns over the boundaries, especially as they involve the Kaipara Harbour which the bill leaves split between two authorities.

“We would prefer to include the whole harbour to create a council with a true west coast and Kaipara Harbour focus, ensuring a community of interest based around harbour. Kaipara will be making submissions on the bill to this effect.”

He believes the new authority can be set up in time for the October 2010 local government elections but stresses that outstanding issues and uncertainties must be resolved quickly.

Mayor Tiller says while he is satisfied with the overall outcome he is concerned that Kaipara was not offered a greater opportunity to be involved in discussions which so vitally affected this district and its people.