Few changes

BEN WATSON

VOICING CONCERNS: Northern Action Group chairman Bill Townson during a protest outside the Auckland governance select committee hearings in Parnell.

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Few surprises emerged from Rodney boundary changes in the Local Government Commission's latest release.

The northern Auckland boundary will not change, much to the disappointment of many northern Rodney residents.

A total of 736 submissions were received after the commission released its proposal on November 20 last year.

The most common issues related to local board arrangements and fair representation requirements.

The commission added an additional ward for the Auckland region and two further local boards.

There will be 20 Auckland councillors from 13 wards, 21 local boards and 149 board members.

No major changes were made to the proposed rural Rodney ward, other than a slight movement of the southern boundary south to include properties on the southern side of Hunter Rd, near Taupaki, and the eastern boundary moving west to exclude the area east of State Highway 1 near Redwood. It will have one Auckland Council member and one local board.

The rural Rodney ward's 54,100 population is considered over-represented, with one Auckland councillor, but commissioners made an exception.

The commission decided to make electoral subdivisions within boards, restricting the number of board members for each geographical area to ensure fairer representation.

For rural Rodney, the nine-member board will comprise one member from Wellsford, three from Warkworth, one from Dairy Flat and four from Kumeu. Other changes affecting Rodney include the transfer of Whenuapai from the Waitakere ward to the Albany ward, which includes parts of the North Shore, Albany and the Hibiscus Coast.

The Albany ward will have two Auckland councillors and two local boards.

Hibiscus and East Coast Bays will join to make one board with four members from Hibiscus Coast and four from East Coast Bays, which will represent about 88,800 residents from those areas.

Upper Harbour will be the second board, representing 49,000 residents with six board members. Whenuapai is now part of the Upper Harbour board area. The Albany board's western boundary was moved further west to include an area east of SH1 near Redvale.

The super-city is to come into affect on November 1.

- © Fairfax NZ News