Auckland Governance

Press Release: Brown and Banks commit on communities

The Auckland Community Development Alliance(ACDA) has released the commitments given to them by the leading Mayoral candidates, Mayors John Banks and Len Brown

Armed with a Community Development Charter, and a set of questions designed to ensure voters knew clearly where they stood on the role communities would play in the new Auckland, the Alliance met both candidates recently. They were asked to both formally sign up to the Charter, and provide comprehensive answers to the questions.

‘The Alliance was very pleased that both candidates signed up to the Charter, which was a first for Local Government’, said spokesperson Yvonne Powley, ’and the answers to our questions give real teeth to communities looking to hold the candidates to their promises’.

The Community Development Charter will guide communication, planning, resourcing, support and participation between the new Council and communities in and across the Auckland region.

The nine questions asked by the Alliance address the record of each Mayor in the past, their understanding of key challenges ahead for social wellbeing and inequality and their specific promises to address them.

They also test their commitments on ensuring community input into Council and CCO decision making. Specific commitments on resourcing diverse communities to actively participate, and resourcing Local Boards to encourage communities to lead their own development, are given.

‘It’s critical that both the culture and practice of community development are inbuilt in the new Council, if the city is to live up to the hype of its establishment’ according to co-spokesperson Tony Mayow, ‘so we’ve sought some answers as to how that will happen’.

‘We’ve also asked them to give us the yardstick by which they wish to be judged, by asking what differences we’ll see from their three years’.

The Alliance believes the exercise has provided a reliable basis on which people can both judge for themselves the relative merits of the candidates.

The Alliance will distribute the full texts of the Charter, the questions and answers through its website, www.acda.org.nz, and mailing list, and expects they will be used by other organisations in their own work before and after the election.

For Further Information please contact:
Yvonne Powley Ph 09 4864820, mob 0274829094 , Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tony Mayow Ph. 09 8373456 , mob. 0211309794 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Banks & Brown: Questions About Communities

The Auckland Community Development Alliance (ACDA) developed a list of questions to ask Mayoral candidates about their intended work for our communities if they were elected. Below are the responses from John Banks & Len Brown.

Securing the Future: Community Development and Social Wellbeing
1. What has been your most tangible contribution to community development and social wellbeing over the past 2-3 years?

Banks says:

I have signed the Community Development Charter and look forward to drawing on the wisdom and experience of the many NGOs, church organisations and social agencies in Auckland who can contribute to addressing the social challenges Auckland faces.

Brown says:

My leadership in supporting, encouraging and representing communities has been a cornerstone of my mayoralty and I have made several key contributions to community development and social wellbeing across different areas. These include:

My support for Sir John Walker’s Find Your Field of Dreams enabling all Manukau youth to have free and equal access to sport and recreation facilities and coaching - particularly the free swim programme which provides an estimated 13,000 children with approximately 91,000 swimming lessons annually.
Working with the Police and community groups to cut graffiti by 70 per cent in Manukau and to provide better crime prevention measures for safer communities, such as more CCTV provision, more community ambassadors and advocating for extra frontline police
My support for the establishment of AUT and MIT campuses in the Manukau region to provide better access for our youth to educational opportunities

We have made a submission on the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill.

Click here to download our submission, or click the Read More link for the full text.

Questions for Candidates

These questions have been developed with input from our membership community agencies on the North Shore. Answers have been provided by some of the candidates. We will continue to add candidates views as they come in.

Community - What processes will you champion for communities to influence the Auckland Council and Local Boards?

Joel Cayford - The Spatial Plan needs to be as much about community development as it is about economic development. That means it needs to emphasise local Place-Making, and enable and resource processes that encourage and require community participation and partnerships with local govt over local initiatives. These can include the creation of Village Plans and Town Plans driven by local community groups and facilitated by Local Boards. I will champion this.

This process will succeed if it is recognised and funded by the Auckland Council. It requires Local Boards to be resourced to deliver. This will come through if the Auckland LTCCP provides for it explicitly. I will champion this provision in the first and subsequent LTCCPs.

Thirdly, unless Local Boards are properly understood and recognised and funded by Auckland council, they will fail and so will local community initiatives. I will champion therefore the establishment at Auckland Council of a Local Board Ctte which will give its undivided attention to the enablement and reporting of the performance of Auckland’s 21 Local Boards.

Fourthly, the present time sees an unprecedented cut back or threat to Govt funded Social Services. While these cannot be provided by Auckland Council, the Council can collect relevant data and information that can be used to pressure the Govt into taking social and community development issues more seriously. I will champion that process, so that Council has ammunition to use in its relationship with Central Govt over Social issues.

Ross Craig (Councillor Albany) I will be proactive in communicating in advance details of issues that are on the decision making horizon of Council to all local communities and formal groups within the Albany Ward. I believe that knowledge empowers people when it is effectively communicated. If elected I will at the outset of my term initiate contact with all 14 Board members and after the election of each Board chair, I will establish a close and effective working relationship with each chairperson. I am an experienced team player and I will strategise with the other Albany Councillor to focus on the best possible outcomes for the 20+ Albany Communities.

Laurie Condor (Councillor Albany) Communication is a two way process.My experience is that citizens and ratepayers do not take full advantage of the facilities available. Actionline for immediate redirection to sources of assistance. Taking part in District Planning and Local Planning processes. Attending Local Board meetings and taking part in the Public Forum time allocated.

Dr Grant Gillon (Councillor North Shore) I support the Village Planning process which allows for and encourages strong input from a range of community groups in the relevant local community. This is important because the new Local Boards are approx. twice the size of many of our main cities. Therefore they are even further removed from the community than even our current community boards.

The purpose of the village planning is to enhance local democratic processes and improve accountability to the community by providing a robust mechanism for improved consultation and collaboration. It will improve the interface with local boards and the new Auckland council. The Village Planning scheme provides for better community engagement in planning for future local development.

Margaret Miles (Councillor Albany) Community Groups will need to be provided with regular updates on what is actually proposed by the new Auckland Council so that community groups can be well informed and then encouraged to participate in all processes that impact on their communities. I will ensure that regular contact is made with all groups.

John Watson (Councillor Albany) Local boards These need more powers if this restructuring process is to deliver real democracy at the level of the local communities. I would push for this from the outset, indeed it is absolutely essential to local representation having real meaning under the new regime.

David Willmott (Councillor Albany) Devolution of power to communities on a variety of scales to make all decisions relevant to that community alone, at whatever level that may be Neighbourhood groups(self-defined, “home-grown”, usually issue-activated, necessarily inclusive, informal, mediated by Councilor(s) – as practiced in parts of USA) Community Council,North Shore District Council(which I would promote, comprising representatives of all Community Committees comprising the North Shore urbanised area). Thus the Regional Council should engage only in Projects of National significance (consulted by Government as responsible authority)Projects or Regional significance, and Projects of District significance (in consultation with affected District Council(s)).Those interested in further detail or justification should refer to our 27page detailed and authoritative submission to the Royal Commission entitled “Shifting the Deckchairs around won’t do it” (ie the problem lies with the self-steering aggregate bureaucracy beneath, not with easily captured politicians, especially once Regional Policies & Plans are signed off)

Uzra Balouch (Candidate for Albany Ward Candidate for Upper Harbour Local Board) The processes I will champion whether it concerns the seniors, youth children, minorities, families or the Tangata Whenua is to engage and consult them. I plan to hold community clinics on a rotational basis in the ward and sit in on Local Board meetings and also lobby for the webcasting of council meetings so communities know what we are advocating on their behalf. I also want to lobby for the development of community hubs/villages across the ward so that local identity is preserved. The reason I am standing is because I only get to see the candidates at election time and then never in the three years that ensue unless they hit the headlines for texting at odd hours or when there is dissent and disagreement between the ‘A’ team and the ‘B’ team.

I am standing because the communities are expecting a lot from their elected representatives in the new set up especially the Local Board members who will be the bridge between the Council and the communities while the Councillors take on a more strategic region wide role.

I want to be a part of team “ W ” (not the one you are thinking) i.e. the team that shows team w ork and the team that w orks and as a part of this team, whether that is as a councillor or a local board member, I want to consult and engage all stakeholders before making any decisions that affects them. To me community engagement and development is central to local governance and that is what I will champion.

Feedback: Social Policy Forum

Feedback on the proposed Social Policy Forum Discussion Document was due on Friday May 21st.

Click here to download our feedback on this document , or click the Read More link for the full text.

Press Release: Auckland Social Policy Forum

11 May 2010

Submissions on billion-dollar Auckland Social Policy Forum close on 21 May

Aucklanders have only a few days left to have their say about the Auckland Social Policy Forum, which will help decide how $11-12 billion is spent each year in their city.

Feedback on the proposed forum closes on Friday 21 May - less than two weeks away.

North Shore Community & Social Services spokesperson Yvonne Powley says that community feedback is urgently needed on a discussion document which was issued by the Minister of Social development Paula Bennett in late January.

“The Social Policy Forum will play a major role in deciding how billions of dollars will be distributed for social services in greater Auckland.

“This will be our only chance to have a say in how the forum is set up, who is on it, what it does and how its relationships work.

Local Boards and CCO's

We have submitted feedback to the Auckland Transition Agency in relation to Local Boards and CCO's.

"We thank the ATA for the opportunity to give feedback on the two discussion documents.

North Shore Community & Social Services (NSCSS) has a membership base of over 150 community groups on Auckland’s North Shore including arts, environment, health, and migrants, Maori, Pacific peoples, seniors, family, education, community, youth and disability sectors. This feedback is from the Executive of NSCSS and does not claim to represent all our membership views. It is informed by many discussions with community agencies over 2009 and continuing workshops and meetings in 2010.

The primary concern of NSCSS is to ensure, through the local government reforms, that the social issues and structures established in North Shore City remain to support community agencies. NSCSS wants to ensure that the voice of community remains intact and is indeed strengthened where possible. The restructuring of Auckland local government has promulgated anxiety for many throughout the North Shore for the future of community agencies."

Click the Read More link to read the rest of the document.

Third Bill Submission

We have made a submission to the Auckland Governance Legislation Select Committee with regards to the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill. The submission outlines our concerns with this bill, and we are hoping to appear before the Select Committee to speak our submission.

Click here to read this submission.

UPDATE - In addition to the submission we have requested a few more issues be considered by the Select Committee. Click here to read these.

Boundary and Social Policy Submission

North Shore Community and Social Services Inc. (NSCSS) is a not-for-profit agency providing broad services and advice to North Shore voluntary groups. We made a submission to the Commission in October 2009 on boundary and social policy matters.

The publication of the preliminary plan by the Commission proposes multi-member wards as the basis for election of councillors. This is the only matter we wish to comment on. It was our earlier submission, supported by other Auckland wide agencies offering the same services as NSCSS, that the overwhelming public opinion is in favour of one elected member per ward.

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