Welcome to Fix Auckland - it's a place to keep up to date with change that is happening in local government in the Auckland region of New Zealand.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Auckland Governance has considered public submissions and delivered its recommendations to central Government. The latter supports the thrust of the recommendations, which align closely with the proposal in the Fix Auckland Campaign.

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Media statement                      Tuesday, April 7^th, 2009

Fast response to Auckland absolutely first class

The quick response by the government to the Royal Commission’s recommendation to implement one big council for Auckland is absolutely positive, the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) says.

“The go ahead for one big council for Auckland will be great for Aucklanders and the Auckland economy,” Mr Thompson said.

“Auckland has suffered far too long from delays in getting urgent infrastructure in place.

“Having the Auckland Council responsible for the major infrastructure and other region wide issues will lead to better decision making and earlier implementation of big projects.

“Benefits will be realised sooner.

“Making provision for 20 or more local community boards to make decisions about local amenities close to peoples’ hearts and homes is also better than the six councils proposed by the Royal Commission.

“The six councils wouldn’t keep the local in local government whereas 20 or more local community boards can. More democracy at the local level is the right way to go.

“But we feel more clarity about the local community boards is still needed.

“For example the local boards should be given the right to determine rates to fund their local amenities with those rates struck for them, and held accountable for them, by the Auckland Council.

“In addition, 20 or more local boards should get budgetary grants from the Auckland Council to balance out inequalities between each local board’s rating base.

“In other words, areas such as Otara, where amenities may not be as good as those in Remuera, may need a larger grant from the Auckland Council than Remuera to achieve their aspirations.

“But these sorts of things can be worked through at the Select Committee process.

“Its a credit to the government, and the previous government, and to all who participated in the Royal Commission process, that such a satisfactory, workable solution is being achieved.”

The link below will take you to the submission from the Employers & Manufacturers Association (Northern), or EMA.

The EMA  ran the Fix Auckland campaign in 2007 to raise awareness of dysfunction in the Auckland region and called for an independent inquiry.