Structure of Local Government

> NZHerald: "Commission to look into who runs Auckland" I'm pleased to see the government has arranged for an independent review of the local governance issues in Auckland. Quite frankly, the area is under significant growth pressure and its local governance agencies have had dysfunctional relationships for some time. As for the Royal Commission concept, the cynics might say that it's a ploy to neuter the current One Auckland debate. I suspect the government is nervous about this concept - because it would compete with the Beehive in terms of political power. Labour could never have unilaterally said no to the idea though - they would have been labelled anti-Auckland. The Royal Commission avoids this and defers the substantive issue beyond the local body and national elections. Personally though, I think the Royal Commission move demonstrates the government's commitment to local government. They do truly believe in the importance of local government - which should be commended. It allows for grass-roots democracy - participation at a local level and the experimentation with local solutions. The previous local government reforms enhanced this and emphasised local government's general well-being powers. Sub-national government in this form is really New Zealand's form of federalism. On the substantive question, I don't know if I have a particular view about the Auckland issues. But for some time I've wondered whether the structure of local government has suffered from historical anomalies and is too fragmented for their present functions. My tentative suggestion is that we consider merging some local authorities. The present structure of local government is as follows:

My tentative structure is as follows: Key points:

- The merger of local authorities allows the regional council functions to be merged, similar to the couple of unitary authorities we have now. The split of functions doesn't really make sense, complicates the governance questions and leads to intra-local authority in-fighting.

- Few local authorities, defined more around contemporary communities of interest. Eg, Greater Wellington, Taranaki, etc. Someone once suggested to me the present DHB boundaries would make some sense.

- Bigger local authorities. This would allow the administration to harmonise and consolidate their work. No need to re-invent the wheel on the regulation of prostitution across the Auckland region. Or for different frameworks for regulation of the RMA.

- But bigger local authorities need smaller access points for public participation. Community boards are presently optional but I think any move to merge local authorities requires compulsory and universal community boards. That is, each local authority district must have community boards covering the entire district. Here, we can insist on smaller communities of interest. Eg, in a Greater Auckland model (say) Papakura District would be represented by the Papakura Community Boards. The former Wellington City within Greater Wellington might be split into two or three, ie Southern, Central, and Northern Wellington.

And most significantly, these Boards would need to have automatic responsibilities (presently their role depends on the authority and funding given to them by their parent local authority). I suggest they have standing delegations to hear "local" resource consents and a budget for "local" projects; other matters would continue to be dealt with at the local authority level. This allows the local community to make decisions about local matters such as town centre development, local parks, local developments, but ensures that matters with broader implications or needing greater strategic expertise (regional planning or infrastructure) is done at a higher level.

Now none of this is specific to Auckland - but it might be that the examination of these issues in Auckland could trigger some reflection on these issues across the country.