Secession bid now over

RODNEY'S flirtation with seceding from the Auckland supercity is over.

The death of plans for a unitary authority occurred on July 21 when National and Act party MPs voted down the local bill introduced by Labour's Darien Fenton.

The district's local MPs, National Party speaker of the house Lockwood Smith for Rodney, Prime Minister John Key for Helensville and associate minister for local government John Carter for Wellsford would normally be expected to handle the presentation of a local bill from their district.

They all refused.

"I agreed to put the bill forward because the whole saga of Auckland governance has been a confused jumble and the government has severely mishandled the decision-making around Rodney's inclusion in the supercity, says Ms Fenton.

She says the people of Rodney have behaved honestly and in good faith only to be tricked, given false hopes and sold out by the very people who represent them in this House.

Rodney mayor Penny Webster says it is now time for the district and its residents to move on and make the best out of being part of the new Auckland Council.

Mrs Webster thanked Ms Fenton for introducing the bill and "allowing our voice be heard".

"As I have said all along, we support the concept of democracy in Rodney and that is why we proposed this bill."

Orewa resident, former manager at North Shore City Council and a one-time Rodney District Council social policy analyst Neil Miller blames the council for the outcome. "It's sad that the council did not lend proper support to the Wellsford and Te Hana communities in their fight to stay out. Typically, our outgoing council preferred to peddle its own redundant agenda."

He says that MP John Carter has said in public that he expects he may pay in the ballot box for the decision as Wellsford is part of his constituency. He stated at a conference in Auckland last year that it was his one regret that he did not draw the line at the Dome Valley, but Cabinet had made its decision.

"If this mayor and council had more finesse and skill, the associate minister would not be living with this regret," Mr Miller says.

- © Fairfax NZ News