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Your Questions Answered - Moving forward with confidence

 

john robertson(copyHP)The Local Government Commission (LGC) has decided not to proceed with its draft proposals for local government reorganisation in Northland. This brings an end to over two years of uncertainty for the Kaipara District Council. We, along with other Councils in the region, have not known whether we would be consumed into a new governance model, or remain the entity that we are now.

From Kaipara District Council’s perspective, we can now plan with certainty. Staff need not be unsettled any longer by the prospect of their organisation disappearing. Council multi-year contracts can be negotiated with confidence of continuance.

The proposal for reorganisation was sparked off by the Far North District Council lodging a request in 2013 to the LGC to allow it to form its own Unitary Council – meaning one Council for the Far North that combined the operations of both the Northern Regional Council and its own Far North District Council. On receipt of this application, the LGC decided to exercise its rights to draft up a different Unitary Council proposal. It recommended to the region that one single Council replace the four current ones – in other words for Kaipara, Whangarei, Far North and the Northern Regional Council to merge into one organisation. Submissions from the public in 2014 largely rejected this proposal. It is now off the table.

The challenges for Northland
With this decision made, it is important now that Northland local and regional government develop protocols for advocating for the region as a whole. I am told that the history of cooperation between councils, especially in terms of advocacy to central government, is poor. We are changing that.

A Northland Mayoral Forum now meets every two months. This forum is developing well. We are working on a number of matters, including:

* Advocacy for increased central government funding into our roads is a key priority.

We welcome three road related initiatives launched by government in the last six months – the decision to upgrade bridges, including the two at Matakohe; the decision to begin the motorway extension from Puhoi to Warkworth; and the conditional decision to turn the Mangakahia road north of Whangarei (known as the Northland Inland Freight Route) into a state highway.

* Advocacy for telecommunication “black-spot” coverage, and for increased and enhanced broadband coverage.

A bid into a government tender round to enhance these services is being put together as a collective Northland bid. Mobile telephone and internet capability is critical for business development, for farmers, for students undertaking assignments at home, and for hand held devices used by tradesmen and others in rural areas.

* The sharing of services.

There are some things that four Councils can do collectively. For instance, Councils are regularly asked to comment on government initiatives – the latest being restructuring of rural fire services. We are best making submissions on such initiatives together as four Councils in Northland, rather than each Council applying resources to the task individually.

It is important that the four Northland Councils work cooperatively, in the interests of Northland, and in the interests of gaining efficiencies.

Elections 2016
With this LGC decision made, those of you considering standing for election to Council in October 2016 can also plan with confidence. If you are pondering this, always feel free to email me if you wish to meet to discuss any aspect of what is required of an elected member. My email address is jrobertson@kaipara.govt.nz.

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