Super City
Grey Lynn 2030’s presentation to the Select Committee on Auckland Governance Legislation on the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill
My name is Pippa Coom, I am one of 5 steering committee members of Grey Lynn 2030.
I had the pleasure of appearing before the Select Committee in July on behalf of Grey Lynn 2030 when I was able to share with you a good news story about a grass- roots community group taking a positive vision and turning it into practical action to get things done. Since that time the number of supporters we are directly connected to and who receive a regular newsletter has doubled to over 1000.
Members of the committee, including yourself Mr Chair, commented on how so many of the select committee presentations you had heard had made you appreciate the diversity of Auckland’s communities and the tremendous job being done by community groups such as Grey Lynn 2030. I was genuinely touched and moved by this feedback to come away Mr Chair with a positive feeling that we had been listened to and that there was an understanding of the importance of community engagement, local democracy and the ability to take the initiative for local issues at a local level.
I reported this back to the Steering committee of Grey Lynn 2030. You can therefore appreciate our frustration, bewilderment, disbelief & disappointment with the contents of the third bill. A big majority of submitters have highlighted the huge number of ways in which the Auckland Governance Legislation is anti-democratic and will not meet the stated purpose of the changed governance arrangements. I would like to concentrate on just one of the reasons we oppose measures in the Bill in relation to the powers and responsibilities of the Local Boards.
Submitters are being asked to do a lot of work on behalf of the select committee to mend a very broken piece of legislation.
I would therefore like to ask the select committee members who support the Bill to provide an explanation to community groups, like Grey Lynn 2030, as to:
just exactly what is the desired outcome of not giving the Local Boards defined, substantive and meaningful powers and functions?
Why exactly are the tremendous resources, skills and innovation in our communities going to be by-passed in favour of corporate entities?
And what is the purpose of not providing mechanisms to allow Local Boards to influence or be consulted about works or services that are planned in our area by any of the CCO’s?
Are you expecting Mr Chair for the unfunded volunteers of Grey Lynn 2030 to fill the void left by the disappearance of democracy, decision making and accountability at a local level?
We are already seen as a group that can achieve results to the extent that we are approached about parking problems, traffic speeds, community gardens, urban design, sustainable business, waste reduction and recreational amenities. I am sure we, and other community groups around Auckland, are up to the challenge of building resilience, “place making” and developing a strong sense of community without any meaningful input from a Local Board.
We can thank the undemocratic process that the legislation has gone through for bringing together communities across Auckland to highlight our collective the strength, cohesion and connectedness. However we suspect that this may be a world first experiment in corporatised local democracy that governments does not really want to test.
Rather the new Auckland Council really is an excellent opportunity to develop strategies, policy, plans and processes for the effective service delivery of an integrated region at the same time as recognising and supporting our individual communities.
Let’s work together to get that right for the benefit of all our communities. We therefore ask the committee for the Local Boards to have meaningful and substantive powers and functions enshrined in legislation.
Pippa Coom
Grey Lynn 2030 Steering Committee
Other Super City specific news is listed below here
Grey Lynn 2030 Transition Community » SuperCity: Positive Vision – Practical Action
