Grey Lynn 2030 Transition Community

The Chief Executive Officer
Local Government Commission
Email: info@lgc.govt.nz

From: Grey Lynn 2030

Submission on proposal for wards and boundaries for Auckland Council

1.    This submission is made by Grey Lynn 2030 – transition community.

2.    Grey Lynn 2030 is a participatory community organisation aimed at facilitating and supporting focus groups working towards creating a positive, connected, sustainable, resilient community through practical action.

3.    We take our terms of reference from the Transition Initiative which is a positive response to the twin challenges of climate change and peak oil. The Transition Town movement helps people to reskill and take more responsibility. There are currently 55 Transition Towns throughout New Zealand.

4.    Grey Lynn 2030 is based in Grey Lynn, Auckland, encompassing the surrounding neighbourhoods that form part of the Western Bays Community Board area (including Westmere, Ponsonby, Freeman’s Bay, Kingsland, Herne Bay and St Mary’s Bay). We have over 700 supporters.

5.    We have monthly meetings at the Grey Lynn Community Centre and active focus groups which are presently:

• Gardening (Community Gardens such as the Wilton St community Garden, projects to encourage local composting facilities, urban food production and seed sharing);
• Green Screen – monthly screenings of DVDs at the Grey Lynn Community Centre for those who want to be entertained and learn more about sustainability and the environment;
• Local government group (who liaise with the local community board and the Auckland City Council);
• Traffic calming;
• Waste Away Group (this group recently ran a successful eWaste Action Day); and
• Water Group (working on regenerating local streams)

6.    Grey Lynn 2030 is a local movement with a wide support base.  We have many active members representing a wide range of interests.  As a grassroots organisation access to local political representation is vital to our effective functioning and continued growth.  Representation needs be local and accessible to reflect the particular needs and aspirations of our distinct local community.

Key Points

7.    The Auckland City ward and local boundaries must be determined to ensure “communities of interest” are maintained and encouraged and to ensure effective local representation for the new council and local boards. The Local Government Commission’s (LGC) proposal currently fails to achieve these objectives.

8.    The LGC’s proposals undermine the potential for greater community engagement in local government at a time when groups like Grey Lynn 2030 are demonstrating the importance and desire of local communities to be engaged and actively involved in local issues.

9.    We believe that Auckland is currently “under governed” at local level, a situation which will be exacerbated if the LGC’s recommendations are adopted. As proposed a local board member will represent an average of 12,740 people which is completely inadequate to ensure effective representation.

10.  Given that Councillors will no longer be on the Local Boards, and that the proposed structure and high population ratio to councillors will effectively place councillors at some distance from local communities, the role of boards will be critical in ensuring effective representation and communication with local communities.   Given that there is no second tier in the structure, Local boards will be expected to perform the vital role of conduit between councillors and the wider community.   For this reason, we submit that commensurate with their large size and responsibilities, all Boards should have 8 or 9 members.

11.  Grey Lynn 2030 strongly urges the LGC to introduce a system of roughly equal sized single member local wards as much as is practicable throughout the new Auckland Council.

12.  It is absolutely vital that the new Auckland Council has representation, engagement and confidence from all significant communities across the whole region.

13.  Multimember wards will strongly tend to eliminate substantial geographical and ethnic communities, to make the elected representatives more remote and reduce access to the new Council. All councillors should therefore be elected from single member wards as we consider this is the best way to ensure that, in the makeup of the Council, there is a genuine reflection of the ethnic, socio-economic, political and geographical diversity of the Auckland Region.

14.  We support the Royal Commission’s original recommendation that there be 20 – 30 Local Boards.  It is not clear why the LGC has chosen to ignore this recommendation in favour of only 19 Local Boards.

15.  We are concerned that there are very high differences in population per councillor in the proposed wards which deviates unnecessarily from the principle of one person one vote. It is essential that all votes should be seen to be of roughly equal value.   Differences of up to 17,219 and 24.3% deviate too far from the +/-10% population rule.  We would strongly urge changes that would achieve much closer to equal representation while maintaining effective communities of interest.

16.  This submission focuses on recommendations in relation to the proposed “Maungawhau – Hauraki gulf ward” where the Grey Lynn 2030 community is located.

Waitamata– Hauraki gulf ward

17.  The name Waitamata – Hauraki Gulf would be more appropriate to this geographical location.  The name Mangawhau is associated with Mt Eden and is not representative of the wider area or the actual location and is therefore likely to create confusion.

18.  We propose that the Waitamata – Hauraki Gulf Ward is determined so that is has a population of approximately 74,000 and creates a more logical community of interest within this area by removing parts of Mt Albert Ward and all of the Parnell (because Parnell identifies so closely with Hobson Bay, Remuera and the Eastern Bays) but with the addition of the area around the zoo South of Old Mill Road.

19.  The ward would then have a Waitamata Board with 2 subdivisions:  Western Bays (rest of current Western Bays Community Board area in the new ward) with 4 members; and the distinctive new area, which is mainly in the CBD and Newmarket, to be called something like Karangahape  with 4 members, a total of 8.

20.  As proposed by LGC there should also be a Waiheke local board of 5 members; and a Great Barrier local board of 5 members.

21.  We support a Waitamata Local Board with 2 subdivisions and 8 members because this would be the minimum required to represent the local communities of this unique area.  This ward brings together areas of medium to high density housing including historic residential zones and the CBD – areas of financial and cultural significance to greater Auckland, that are already facing significant developmental and sustainability issues.  This area also hosts many people who visit to work and play in the area including tourists.  We believe the 5 members proposed for the “Maungawhau” ward would not be able to adequately serve and represent the interests of this population including the community of Grey Lynn 2030.

Drafted by Pippa Coom and Mandy McMullins for the Grey Lynn 2030 Steering Committee

Friday 11 December 2009

Clause 52 of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill 2009, banning general tree protection in urban areas.

ACTION IS NEEDED NOW – IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT TO START WRITING NOW (if you haven’t already) and please pass this on to others who might be also be interested.

It is expected that the government will put this Bill through the final parliamentary process as soon as possible – possibly starting on Thursday 27th August, with the critical final voting stage possibly on the 8th or 9th September (there is a week’s recess in between).

We urgently need people to write letters NOW to MPs and to their local newspapers to help influence the final decision. There is also talkback radio.

The Labour Party and the Greens already oppose this Clause, so it is best to target National (in particular), Maori and United Party MPs. If you live in an electorate with a National MP, please write directly to them, voicing your concerns, saying you are a
constituent. It is really important to target National electorate MPs, in particular Nikki Kaye (Auckland Central); Paula Bennett  (Waitakere), and Sam Lotu-Iiga (Maungakiekie) as they are most vulnerable, with slim majorities.

PLEASE ASK THEM TO REMOVE CLAUSE 52 OR SUPPORT AMENDMENTS TO IMPROVE THE EXISTING TREE PROTECTION SYSTEM.

Here are some points you could include (a couple more added from earlier Alert):

• government ignored large proportion of submitters who objected to this Clause
• Options are available from the NZ Arboricultural Association that will save time, money and the environment without removing general urban tree protection (see below** for a broad outline as   conveyed to MPs at the Select Committee stage, but were ignored)
• once law, developers will be able to clear fell a site and not have to replace any lost trees through replanting
• many trees will be cut down as soon as it becomes law
• with development pressure so great in the Auckland region, there will be increasing number of sites with little or no tree cover for shade, screening or visual amenity – any trees planted will be of a size that will take    decades to provide such functions
• listing, or scheduling, of trees in the District Plan, as the only permissible means of protecting trees, is costly, time consuming and very limited
• listing, or scheduling, will potentially involve more cost and council staff time than administration of current tree protection rules
• the well recognised and diverse functions and values of trees, clearly identify trees as being of community value, and need to be taken into account as well as that of an individual property right
• NZ risks losing its international clean green image that it has worked hard to promote and could negatively affect tourism.

You can also look at The Tree Council’s pages for more comprehensive ideas.

**(from the NZ Arboricultural Association) Improvements to the  existing system (i.e. not prohibiting general urban tree protection) include:-

• Lifting the permitted baseline (requirement for a resource  consent) and allowing a higher level of activities ­ like pruning ­ to go ahead without the need for a consent (based on additional
• criteria, for   example, utilising Œapproved contractor¹ provisions or similar),

• Allowing a greater level of delegation, so that the appropriate council officers can sign off on the majority of consents, therefore reducing the level of staff involvement,

• Allowing on-site, instant, carbonated or electronic decisions,

• Standardising some of the rules (i.e. the ³super city²
  concept),

• Increased efficiency through a review of the internal council processes and administration procedures.

Here is a more comprehensive list of Auckland MPs than was sent in the earlier Alert:

Auckland MPs:- (you can cut and paste whole list)
Nikki.kaye@parliament.govt.nz; paula.bennett@parliament.govt.nz;
sam.lotu-iiga@parliament.govt.nz;
Jonathan.coleman@parliament.govt.nz;
Murray.McCully@parliament.govt.nz; Rodney.hide@parliament.govt.nz

Gag Sells Public Assets On Trademe – Monday, 27 July 2009, 8:59 amThe Grassroots Action Group is selling photographs of public assets currently owned by the 5 Auckland councils on the internet trading web site www.trademe.co.nz this week.
The stunt is intended to raise awareness of the impact that privatisation of public assets would have on the lives of every Aucklander as the country awaits the outcome from the select committee on Auckland Governance.

Local voice at heart of region’s concerns – New Zealand Herald – 27th Jul 2009
LOCAL BOARDS There is nothing more basic to the success or failure of the Super City than local boards.

Super city water needs accountability – Sunday, 26 July 2009The Government must give urgent consideration to protecting Auckland ratepayers from the super city’s new monopoly water company, says Labour’s Auckland Issues spokesperson Phil Twyford.

Matt McCarten: Super Mayor poll show Brown ahead – 4:00AM Sunday Jul 26, 2009

Up to now there’s been a seemingly certain inevitability that the new Mayor of the Supercity would be John Banks. But this week a polling result from UMR shattered that illusion.

Councils should be able to compete for ratepayers, says Sir Roger – 4:00AM Saturday Jul 25, 2009

Sir Roger Douglas wants ratepayers to be able to shop around for the best local council, saying that being able to defect to one nearby even if they do not live there will invoke the spirit of competition.

Community councils should run Super City, MPs told – New Zealand Herald – 24th Jul 2009
Auckland should be largely run by community councils with powers to set rates and compete for ratepayers and each others businesses, Act MP Sir Roger Douglas said today.

Proposal calls for Waikato region to become super city – TVNZ – 24th Jul 2009
A proposal calling for the Waikato region to also become a super city has been put before a select committee…

Waikato super-city? – Waikato Times – 24th Jul 2009
Auckland’s “super city” plan should be extended to the Waikato with one council formed in time for next year’s local body elections in October, according to a high-powered Waikato lobby group.

Other want to follow Auckland super city model – TVNZ – 25th Jul 2009
Other North Island towns and cities want to follow the Auckland supercity proposal and have their local government structures streamlined

Plea to give local boards real clout – New Zealand Herald – 24th Jul 2009
The combined wisdom of New Zealand’s community boards and Auckland’s legal fraternity say local boards in the Super City must have powers and functions set in law to succeed.

Plea for libraries, galleries – 5:00AM Friday Jul 24, 2009

The Government needs to ensure local government continues to provide free public access to community facilities, the New Zealand Society of Authors says.

Southerners take pride in self-governance – 4:00AM Friday Jul 24, 2009

Wanaka has more than skiing, boating and the Warbirds airshow going for it. It has a model of local democracy that puts Auckland to shame.

Letter to Manukau – Issue 78 – Friday, 24 July 2009

The Select Committee into Auckland governance sat in our city last week and we had an opportunity to make a submission on behalf of our council and community.

Speech to St Heliers Probus Club – Rodney Hide 24 July, 2009
… The question that I have been focused on since I took up my role as Minister of Local Government, and I have to say long before that, is how do we make Auckland an even better city.

Council Committee Chairman seeks further discussions over Watercare confidentiality issue – 23 July 2009
Councillor Grant Gillon, Chair of the North Shore City Council Strategy and Finance Committee, has suggested a meeting with Watercare Chairman Graeme Hawkins to discuss ways to address the need for cooperation for the Watercare integration project whilst recognising the respective responsibilities of each organisation.

Banks behind in Auckland mayor poll – Otago Daily Times – 23rd Jul 2009
Manukau Mayor Len Brown leads Auckland City Mayor John Banks in the race to be the proposed Super City’s first mayor, according to a new poll.

Manukau mayor beating John Banks in super city poll – TVNZ – 23rd Jul 2009
Auckland Mayor John Banks is beingpipped by his Manukau counterpart in the battle to be super city mayor

Brown pips Banks in preferred mayor poll – New Zealand Herald – 23rd Jul 2009
Manukau Mayor Len Brown has leapfrogged Auckland City Mayor John Banks in a head-to-head poll for the first mayor of the Super City.

John Banks: It still holds true – Auckland’s future calls for bold ideas – Thursday Jul 23, 2009

On June 2, 1964, the New Zealand Herald marked Auckland’s population reaching half a million with the headline – “The future calls for bold ideas”.

Supercity senior fears – Manukau Courier Last updated 05:00 23/07/2009
Older ratepayers of Counties Manukau have invested significantly in the region and Age Concern doesn’t want to see that go to waste under the Auckland supercity.

Better Democracy NZ: Sir Roger Douglas on Supercity – Monday, 27 July 2009
- The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance, however, focussed only on structure. That is why the mayors and councillors have spent the whole duration of .

Here is the transcript of Pippa Coom’s

Presentation on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill

on behalf of Grey Lynn2030

9 July 2009

My name is Pippa Coom I am on the steering committee of Grey Lynn 2030.

Thank you for this opportunity to talk to our submission.

I would like to go into more detail about who we are so that I can highlight practical examples of why it is so vital for community groups like Grey Lynn 2030 to have a working relationship with Local Boards that have a real and meaningful role with adequate resources and funding

I would like to be brief to allow time for questions.

The transition town movement came out of a response to the twin challenges of an energy-constrained world and climate change. However rather than focus on the doom and gloom it has been a catalyst for practical positive initiatives that respond to local issues. What we have found is that a majority of our 500 supporters are drawn to Grey Lynn 2030 because of the opportunity to be involved with a group promoting and engaging in building neighbourhood spirit and cooperation while working towards a vision of a self –reliant, positive, connected and sustainable community.

I would also like to emphasise that there are now estimated to be over 2 million groups around the world working towards complimentary objectives borne from concern for the environment. We are not in any way a fringe group that is unique to trendy Grey Lynn.

So I hope I have now set the scene to provide a couple of practical examples.

Grey Lynn 2030 supports initiatives as simple as a group of neighbours getting together to transform a vacant section into a community garden or clean up a local stream and undertake tree planting. We can make a lot of progress relying on the enthusiasm of volunteers but to make meaningful progress at some point we need to interact with a local board. For example the Grey Lynn Farmers market which came out of GL2030 and is starting in September in a temporary location at the community hall needs to work with a board with powers to decide location and funding.

The local board should be able to make decisions wherever possible on local issues such as parks, roads, street design, community development, events, recreational facilities, footpaths, resource recovery options, food production and water management. These are the issues that get people excited and engaged at a local level and should be encouraged to develop community identity.

Yes there are aspects of regional governance that will benefit from a unified structure but it is critical that local communities are sustainable, resilient, positive and able to engage on a meaningful level with local boards. The bill provides an excellent opportunity to correct the mistakes of previous restructuring by giving an appropriate number of boards the ability to act locally, with real funding to support grass roots initiatives, set their own policies and have a meaningful say over their own governance.

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Fears raised over powers – North Shore Times Last updated 05:00 07/07/2009
Shore councillors fear the agency handling the shift to an Auckland supercity is acting outside its powers after it raised questions about major projects.